HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OPENS TWENTY-FIRST SESSION AND HEARS ADDRESS BY THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL
Also Hears Update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Activities of her Office
10 September 2012
The Human Rights Council this morning opened its twenty-first regular session, hearing an address by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and an update by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on the activities of her Office, followed by a general debate.
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Opening Statements
BAN KI-MOON, United Nations Secretary-General, …
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… Mr. Ban also remained concerned about the unfulfilled human rights of the Palestinian people, in particular the right to self-determination. A sustainable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict required a negotiated agreement that ended the 1967 occupation and resulted in an independent, sovereign, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbours. This objective must be supported by developments on the ground, including respect for human rights and international law, and concerted efforts to build the foundations of a future Palestinian state. The situation in Gaza remained tense and troubling with indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes and incursions. Serious human rights, humanitarian and socio-economic problems only added to the immense human suffering. The Secretary-General urged Israel to lift its harsh restrictions in order to ease the plight of civilians and bring an end to the closure. Keeping a large and dense population in unremitting poverty was in nobody's interest except that of the most extreme radicals in the region.
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General Debate on the Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office and the Secretary-General
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Maldives … also urged a halt to all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the resumption of talks.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
Download Document Files: https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/HRC12096f.pdf
Document Type: French text, Press Release
Document Sources: Human Rights Council, Secretary-General, United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)
Subject: Closures/Curfews/Blockades, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Occupation, Palestine question, Peace process, Poverty, Self-determination
Publication Date: 10/09/2012