PRESS RELEASE
Preparatory Meeting on Fourth Geneva Convention Concludes in Geneva
Ref: 38/99
Date: 8th April 1999
Yesterday, April 7, 1999, the preparatory meeting for the international campaign to implement the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was concluded. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights initiated this campaign in association with Palestinian human rights organizations. A number of Palestinian, Arab, and international organizations, as well as human rights experts and activists were invited to attend the preparatory meeting. The meeting was held in the UN Headquarters in Geneva on April 6-7. The meeting participants discussed a plan of action for the partners proposed as a basis for the campaign to adopt the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the International Federation of Human Rights, Al-Haq, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Commission of Jurists – Sweden, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, the Arab Organization for Human Rights (Dr. Muhammad Faiq, Secretary General), the Arab Lawyers Union (Dr. Faruq Abu Issa, Secretary General), the Arab Working Group for Human Rights Defenders (Dr. Muhammad Mandour, Coordinator), the Morocco Organization for Human Rights (Dr. Muhammad Mawaqit), as well as Abdel Rahman Abu El-Nasser, Chairperson of the Palestinian Bar Association, Dr. Agneta Johansson of Sweden, Greg Nott of South Africa, Professor Paul de Waart of the Netherlands, and Suha Bishara from the Lebanese Committee for the Release of Lebanese Prisoners in Israel.
It should be noted that the UN General Assembly has adopted five resolutions, the latest of which was adopted on February 8, 1999, in which it called for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene a conference on measures to implement the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The conference of the High Contracting Parties will be held on July 15, 1999. This conference is considered to be of great importance as it will be the first meeting of its kind since the signing of the Convention in 1949. PCHR and its partners are committed to immediate action to exert pressure and to influence the High Contracting Parties to ensure that the conference will be held. PCHR and its partners are also committed to exerting pressure on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention for the implementation of practical measures regarding the Convention and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. During the Geneva meeting, participants adopted a position paper pertaining to grave breaches of the Convention, other breaches of the Convention, and unilateral measures to change the status of parts of the Occupied Territories. Furthermore, a plan of action was adopted regarding the role of each partner in its own country.
Please see attachment for the position paper on the IVth Geneva Convention.
Position Paper Concerning Conference on Implementation
of the IVth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
In its resolution A/ES-10/L.5/Rev.1 of 8th February 1999, the United Nations General Assembly recommended that the High Contracting Parties (HCPs) to the Fourth Geneva Convention (“the Convention”) convene a conference on measures to enforce this convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Jerusalem, on 15th July 1999, at the United Nations’ offices in Geneva. In so doing, it invited the Government of Switzerland, in its capacity as the depositary of the Geneva Convention, to undertake whatever preparations are necessary prior to the Conference. It also requested the UN Secretary General to make the necessary facilities available to enable the HCPs to convene the conference. It expressed its confidence that Palestine, as a party directly concerned, will participate in the above-mentioned conference.
The commitment of the HCPs to convene this conference was clearly established when states adopted the above- mentioned resolution by an overwhelming majority. The agreed focus of the conference is measures to be taken to ensure full implementation of the Convention.
To ensure that such a conference takes place, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) took the initiative to launch a campaign on 6th April 1999 entitled: “A campaign to implement the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).” A number of Palestinian, Arab and international human rights organizations as well as human rights experts (the participants) adopted a plan of action to call upon the HCPs convene a conference in accordance with the General Assembly resolution and to adopt concrete and specific measures for the implementation of the Convention in the OPT.
The participants emphasized that the implementation of the Convention is a minimum requirement for the protection and safeguard of civilians, particularly at the end of this interim period. They also stressed that a Conference on the 15th of July that respects the provisions of the General Assembly resolution will be essential to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace between Palestine and Israel. The participants identified the following three categories that merit action by the HCPs. During the Conference, practical measures should be adopted to address these categories in order to ensure full implementation of the Convention:
1. Grave breaches of the Convention
Grave breaches of the Convention, such as torture or inhuman treatment and the taking of hostages, constitute war crimes. The HCPs are under a legal obligation, in accordance with article 146 of the Convention, to search for persons alleged to have committed or to have ordered to be committed such grave breaches and to bring them, regardless of their nationality, before their own courts. Specific measures should be taken to ensure that this obligation is fulfilled.
2. Other breaches of the Convention
Other serious breaches of the Convention include the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Jerusalem. The establishment of settlements is illegal according to Article 49 of the Convention, as has been repeatedly confirmed by UN resolutions.
3. Unilateral measures to change the status of parts of the Occupied Territories
Unilateral measures to change the status of parts of the Occupied Territories, including de jure and de facto annexation, are illegal according to the Convention. HCPs should not take measures that will lead to illegality.
In the circumstances, the participants urge the HCPs to focus the agenda of the Conference on specific measures to be adopted to stop the above-mentioned breaches. The overall objective of the Conference must be to ensure compliance with the Convention. In this regard, reference is made to the decision by the European Commission recommending that its Member States not import goods produced in the Israeli settlements. The participants look forward to the HCPs adopting similar constructive measures at the Conference. By so doing, the HCPs will remove a serious obstacle in the way of true conciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
To this end, the participants, as part of civil society, commit themselves to support the HCPs in the implementation of the Convention.
SIGNED AT GENEVA ON THIS THE 7TH OF APRIL 1999
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Al-Haq
International Federation of Human Rights
International Commission of Jurists
International Commission of Jurists – Sweden
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
Arab Organization for Human Rights
Arab Lawyers Union
Arab Working Group for Human Rights Defenders
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Morocco Organization for Human Rights
Abdel Rahman Abu El-Nasser, Chairperson of the Palestinian BAR Association
Agneta Johansson, Sweden
Greg Nott, South Africa
Paul de Waart, the Netherlands
Amnesty International, Swiss Section (observer)
Also Approved by:
The Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid
The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights,
LAW – The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment
Middle East Watch
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Trial Version
