Protection of human rightsPalestinian rights – GA Third Cttee debate – Press release (excerpts)

Third Committee

32^nd & 33^rd Meetings (AM & PM)

NATIONAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS, EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

AND SPECIAL PROCEDURES AMONG ISSUES, AS THIRD COMMITTEE DEBATE CONTINUES

Some 38 Speakers Take Floor in Debate on Protection of Human Rights;

Delegations Describe Steps Taken on Migrants, Death Penalty, Religious Intolerance

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Background

The Third Committee met today to continue its discussion of the promotion and protection of human rights.  (For more information, please see Press Releases GA/SHC/3983 through GA/SHC/3987.)

Statements

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JIM MCLAY ( New Zealand) …

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…  Concerning Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, he supported calls for greater protection of civilians and an immediate end to all violence. …

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VERÓNICA CALCINARI VAN DER VELDE ( Venezuela) …

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“Humanitarian imperialists” had nothing to teach others about human rights; today’s imperialists were self-declared defenders of human rights, she said.  That pointed to double standards.  When would crimes against the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan be investigated?  How many people had been massacred in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territory?  When would the blockade against Cuba be lifted?  It was reprehensible that imperialists were seeking to put on trial sovereign countries that did not share imperialist pretensions justified by the war on terror. …

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SAMIRA A. ABUBAKAR ( Libya) said that, in many parts of the world, human rights were being violated in many ways, including through violence, terrorism, counter-terrorism, violation of religion, tribal struggles and clashes, and foreign occupation.  The Palestinians had been deprived of their rights, including the right to self-determination, by the Israeli occupying forces.  Special interest was supposed to have been given by the international community to such violations.  Plans had been afoot to reform the international architecture of human rights through the Human Rights Council.  In general, though, developing countries had lost their economic balance and social control, as they were forced to bow to the hegemony of others.  Social, economic and cultural rights had not been getting as much attention as political and civil rights; there should be a balance between all rights, which were indivisible.

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NADYA RASHEED, observer for Palestine, reiterated her appreciation for the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, which starkly conveyed the situation there.  The rights of the Palestinian people were being grossly, systematically and gravely breached by Israel, the occupying power, by means of unlawful policies and practices.  The right to self-determination, which underpinned all human rights, was being violated, as were the rights to life, property, food, livelihood, housing, education, health, development, water, movement and worship.  Such a situation was the result of Israel’s total disregard and wilful flouting of its legal obligations, without fear of punishment from the international community.

She said her delegation had hoped for a different situation this year, given the international efforts towards peace.  But, while the international community and the Palestinian leadership had been focusing on confidence-building, Israel had hijacked the prospects for real peace.  “ Israel has not ceased its violations of human rights for one moment.”  Palestinian civilians were still being killed, injured and maimed; prisoners were still being mistreated and tortured; homes and property were being destroyed; and the unlawful blockade of Occupied Gaza was still in place.  But the most striking example of Israel’s sabotage of prospects for peace was its unlawful campaign of settler colonialism, especially in and around East Jerusalem.  That campaign had been proceeding, despite a global consensus that it was an obstacle to any peace plan, as well as a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.  “The situation before us is indeed grim”, Israel would only be emboldened to act with impunity, if it was not held accountable for its human rights violations and crimes against the Palestinian people.  If that continued, an end to the Israeli occupation, the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and their right to live in freedom and dignity in an independent Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, would be ever more distant.

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TINE MØRCH SMITH (Norway), …

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…  Norway agreed that human rights in the Palestinian Territory were underpinned by the right to self-determination and that the only way to secure those rights was through negotiations that led to the creation of an independent Palestinian State. …

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MANSOUR AL-OTAIBI ( Kuwait) …

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Kuwait had presented its national report to the Human Rights Council in May, for which it had received international praise for its efforts regarding human rights, he said.  Kuwait had acceded to various international human rights conventions and protocols.  It condemned Israeli policy affecting Palestinians in the Occupied Territories; their rights were being violated daily by occupation forces which restricted movement, confiscated territory, destroyed houses and imposed a blockade on millions.  Settlements had been created in violation of the Geneva Conventions and United Nations resolutions.  …

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For information media • not an official record