Human Rights Council concludes Special Session on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

23 July 2014

Establishes Independent, International Commission of Inquiry for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Human Rights Council today established an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and concluded its Special Session on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. In the resolution, adopted by a vote of 29 States in favour, 1 against and 17 abstentions, the Council condemned in the strongest terms the widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from the Israeli military operations carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 13 June 2014 that may amount to international crimes, directly resulting in the killing of more than 650 Palestinians, most of them civilians and more than 170 of whom were children, the injury of more than 4,000 people and the wanton destruction of homes, vital infrastructure and public properties. In the resolution, the Council decided to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014, and to report to the Council at its twenty-eighth session. The opening meeting of the Special Session heard keynote statements by Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator; Lance Bartholomeusz, Director of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East; and Makarim Wibisono, Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This was the twenty-first Special Session of the Human Rights Council. Documentation relating to the Special Session, including the resolution, is available on theHuman Rights Council webpage. The twenty-seventh regular session of the Human Rights Council will take place from 8 to 26 September 2014.