March 25, 2010
Human Rights Council Adopts Follow-Up Resolution on Goldstone Report: Climate of Impunity Must be Combated
Human Rights Council Adopts Follow-Up Resolution on Goldstone Report: Climate of Impunity Must be Combated

 

Ref:
21/2010

 

 

On
Thursday, 25 March 2010, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution
A/HRC/13/L.30 in the context of the follow up to the Report of the UN Fact
Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Report).

 

Significantly,
this Resolution calls for the High Commission for Human Rights to:

 

explore and determine the appropriate modalities for the establishment
of an escrow fund for the provision of reparations to the Palestinians who
suffered loss and damage as a result of unlawful acts attributable to the State
of Israel during the military operations conducted from December 2008 to
January 2009.

 

The
establishment of such a fund, a key recommendation of the Goldstone Report, is
an appropriate and essential measure. As recognised in Article 31 of the
Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, in this context,
reparation is a legal obligation incumbent on the State of Israel.

 

However,
the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) emphasize that restitution is
only one component in the pursuit of accountability and the attainment of
victims’ rights.

 

There
can be no substitute for criminal investigation and prosecution. This reality,
is explicitly recognised in, inter alia, Articles 2 and 26 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, while the obligation to investigate
serious violations of international law constitutes an obligation under
customary international law.

 

It is
also a long-standing principle of international law that if genuine domestic
investigations into suspected international crimes – such as grave breaches of
the Geneva Conventions, torture, or crimes against humanity – are not
forthcoming, then recourse must be had to mechanisms of international justice.

 

As
published previously (see Genuinely
Unwilling
) PCHR believe Israel’s investigative and judicial system
is fundamentally incapable of conducting genuine investigations with respect to
alleged violations committed against civilians; a conclusion also reached by
national courts in Spain and the Netherlands.

 

 

 

Israel’s
unwillingness to conduct genuine investigations into the events surrounding
last year’s offensive on the Gaza Strip confirm that recourse must be had to
mechanisms of international justice via the International Criminal Court and
the exercise of universal jurisdiction.

 

The UN
General Assembly has requested that the Secretary-General report to the General
Assembly on the status of Israeli and Palestinian investigations in July 2010.
PCHR believe that it is imperative that the Committee of Experts established by
the Human Rights Council report back prior to this date, in order that their
findings may contribute to the Secretary-General’s decision. As it stands, the
Committee of Experts is required to report back in September 2010.

 

PCHR
remind all concerned parties that – as confirmed by, inter alia, the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights – investigations which persist for a long
period of time without those responsible being identified, constitute “a
situation of serious impunity and … a breach of the State’s duty.”

 

Further
delays in the process of ensuring victims’ legitimate rights to an effective
judicial remedy cannot be allowed; individuals suspected of committing
international crimes cannot be allowed to continue living in impunity. The UN
must not contribute to the perpetuation of a system of impunity, and the
violation of individual’s legitimate rights to the equal protection of the law.

 

The
Human Rights Council Committee of Experts must act in conjunction with the
Secretary-General as mandated by the General Assembly.