Human Rights Council Concludes 34th Regular Session – Press Release (Excerpts)

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONCLUDES THIRTY-FOURTH REGULAR SESSION AFTER ADOPTING 41 RESOLUTIONS AND A PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT

Decides to Dispatch a Fact-Finding Mission to Myanmar, Renews Mandates on Myanmar, Foreign Debt, Human Rights Defenders, Minority Issues, Adequate Housing, Iran, Mali, Freedom of Expression, Torture, Migrants, Racism, South Sudan, Syria and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
24 March 2017
The Human Rights Council concluded its thirty-fourth regular session this afternoon after adopting 41 resolutions and a Presidential Statement on a wide range of issues. The Council also adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic Review of 11 countries and filled three vacancies of Special Procedures mandate holders.
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The final week of the thirty-fourth session of the Council commenced on 20 March with an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories and the discussion of the reports of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories. The Council held a general debate on item 7: human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories, and on item 8: follow-up and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
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Action on Resolutions under Agenda Item 7 on the Human Rights Situation in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories

In a resolution (A/HRC/34/L.11) on human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan, adopted with a vote of 26 in favour, three against and 18 abstentions, the Council calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council, in particular Security Council resolution 497 (1981), and calls upon Israel to desist from its continuous building of settlements.

In a resolution (A/HRC/34/L.38) on ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, adopted with a vote of 30 in favour, two against and 15 abstentions, the Council calls upon all duty bearers and United Nations bodies to pursue the implementation of the recommendations contained in the reports of the independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict, the United Nations independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

In a resolution (A/HRC/34/L.39) on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, adopted with a vote of 43 in favour, two against and two abstentions, the Council reaffirms the inalienable, permanent and unqualified right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including their right to live in freedom, justice and dignity and the right to their independent State of Palestine, and calls upon all States to ensure their obligations of non-recognition, non-aid or assistance with regard to the serious breaches of peremptory norms of international law by Israel.

In a resolution (A/HRC/34/L.40) on human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, adopted with a vote of 41 in favour, two against and four abstentions, the Council stresses the need for Israel, the occupying Power, to withdraw from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, so as to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its universally recognized right to self-determination.

In a resolution (A/HRC/34/L.41/Rev.1) on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, adopted with a vote of 36 in favour, two against and nine abstentions, the Council urges all States and international organizations to ensure that they are not taking actions that either recognize as lawful, aid or assist the expansion of settlements or the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
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For further information and media requests, please contact Rolando Gómez (+ 41 22 917 9711 / rgomez@ohchr.org), or Cédric Sapey (+41 22 917 97 51/ csapey@ohchr.org)

For use of the information media; not an official record

HRC17.064E