Ref: 39/2012
Date: 27 March 2012
Time: 11:00 GMT

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navanethem Pillay, has presented her fourth report on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) to the UN Human Rights Council which is holding its 19th session in Geneva, Switzerland.

The report reiterates the applicability of international human rights and humanitarian law in the oPt which are particularly relevant in the context of Israel’s policies and practices enforced in the Gaza Strip, including its illegal closure and military operations.

In effect, Israel is under a legal obligation to respect and ensure respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which includes an obligation to search for and prosecute before its courts individuals suspected of grave breaches of international humanitarian law (i.e., war crimes), such as those committed in the context of the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip of December 2008-January 2009.

In this regard, and in addition to individual criminal responsibility, state civil responsibility concurrently applies since under customary international humanitarian law (and human rights law) any state “responsible for violations of international humanitarian law is required to make full reparation for the loss or injury caused”. Reparation is also a core-component of the right to justice under human rights law and must therefore be available to all civilian victims of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Despite the clear legal framework, the situation in the oPt, and particularly in the Gaza Strip, evidences a complete disregard for Palestinian civilians’ human rights and rights under customary international humanitarian law, and total impunity for Israel, and its military and political establishment.

In effect, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has acknowledged the lack of accountability in the Gaza Strip and the physical and monetary obstacles to justice for Gazans (para 40), calling on Israel to duly investigate and compensate victims (para 53), without discriminations in regard to justice (para 56).

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), which has widely documented Israel’s violations of Palestinians’ right to justice, welcomes the UN High Commissioner’s report and calls upon the international community, including UN member states and bodies, to enforce the rule of law in the oPt and ensure Palestinians’ human rights, including justice.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report is available here.