Visiting mission to the Occupied Territories will not take place – UNHCHR – Geneva

VISITING MISSION TO THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES WILL NOT TAKE PLACE

In a statement issued on behalf of the proposed visiting mission to the area, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson announced that the mission would not now take place.  Following a telephone conversation between Mr. Felipe Gonzalez and the Israeli Foreign Minister, the members of the mission have learned that the visiting mission will not be facilitated by the Israeli authorities.

The High Commissioner is preparing a report to the Commission on Human Rights, “on the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territory on the basis of reports from all concerned organizations present in the occupied territories”, as requested by a decision of the Commission of 16 April 2002.

She will report to the Commission in the course of next week.

Note  

A visiting mission was constituted on 8 April 2002 following Commission resolution 2002/1 of 5 April.  The resolution requested that a mission travel urgently to the area and report on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.  Mr. Felipe Gonzàlez, former Prime Minister of Spain, and Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, former Secretary-General of the African National Congress of South Africa, had both agreed to join the High Commissioner in undertaking the visiting mission.  In a decision adopted on 16 April, the Commission called for the immediate implementation of its resolution of 5 April on the visiting mission and also urged the High Commissioner to report urgently to the Commission on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Occupied Territories on the basis of reports from all concerned organizations present there.

Geneva, 19 April 2002