U.S. Takes Its Seat at U.N. Rights Council, With Fresh Controversy Brewing Over Israel
Patrick Goodenough, International Editor
cnsnews.com
14 September 09
cnsnews.com
14 September 09
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Justice Richard Goldstone, head of the HRC’s Gaza fact-finding mission. (U.N. Photo by Eskinder Debebe)(CNSNews.com) – The United States on Monday took its seat on the U.N.’s three year-old Human Rights Council for the first time, for a session that once again promises controversy over the council’s single most focused-upon topic – Israel.
The three-week long, 12th regular session of the 47-nation council will include consideration of and debate over a report compiled by investigators into allegations of war crimes during Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip last winter.
The inquiry was mandated by a “special session” of the HRC last January, which passed a resolution condemning Israel for “massive violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people.”
The resolution did not directly mention Hamas or its attacks against Israeli civilians – the stated reason given by Jerusalem for mounting what it called Operation Cast Lead last December. (Of 17 operative paragraphs, one paragraph urged “all parties … to refrain from violence against the civilian population.”)
The investigation’s mandate is simply to probe violations by Israel against the Palestinians.
The resolution passed by a 33-1 vote, with Canada alone in rejecting it. Thirteen members – Japan, South Korea, Cameroon and ten European countries – abstained.
In April, the council announced that the investigation would be chaired by Richard Goldstone, a respected South African judge and former U.N. war crimes prosecutor, and include three other experts.
Making the announcement, HRC president Martin Uhomoibhi of Nigeria said he was confident it would operate “in an independent and impartial manner.”
Groups supportive of Israel quickly raised doubts, however, pointing to what they viewed as an unbalanced mandate that prejudged the inquiry.
Goldstone has stressed his intention to investigate allegations of war crimes and violations on all sides, but the Israeli government rejected the inquiry and its mandate and refused to cooperate.
‘Total integrity’
Another concern raised was the fact that one of the inquiry’s members, Prof. Christine Chinkin of the London School of Economics, had signed a letter last January rejecting Israel’s assertion that its operation constituted self-defense against Hamas rocket attacks.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice is congratulated after the U.S. won a seat on the Human Rights Council for the first time, in New York on May 12, 2009. (U.N. Photo by Eskinder Debebe)
The letter, signed by 27 academics and lawyers and published in a London newspaper, condemned Hamas’ attacks against Israelis, but concluded that “the manner and scale of [Israel’s] operations in Gaza amount to an act of aggression and is contrary to international law, notwithstanding the rocket attacks by Hamas.”
During a dialogue with non-governmental organizations in Geneva last May, Chinkin was challenged on her support for the letter by one of the participating NGOs, U.N. Watch, and responded that she had signed it long before she was asked to take part in a fact-finding mission.
“I, along with all others member of the mission, intend fully to act with total integrity, and look at the facts of what had occurred on the basis of the evidence, on the basis of the evaluation, on the basis of all materials that we can cover,” she said.
The controversy continued, however, with U.N. Watch – a Geneva-based monitoring group – formally seeking Chinkin’s disqualification from the inquiry, charging that she had publicly taken a stand on the disputed issues the investigation was meant to be examining impartially.
The fact-finding mission rejected the appeal, saying the investigation was not a judicial proceeding.
During a dialogue with non-governmental organizations in Geneva last May, Chinkin was challenged on her support for the letter by one of the participating NGOs, U.N. Watch, and responded that she had signed it long before she was asked to take part in a fact-finding mission.
“I, along with all others member of the mission, intend fully to act with total integrity, and look at the facts of what had occurred on the basis of the evidence, on the basis of the evaluation, on the basis of all materials that we can cover,” she said.
The controversy continued, however, with U.N. Watch – a Geneva-based monitoring group – formally seeking Chinkin’s disqualification from the inquiry, charging that she had publicly taken a stand on the disputed issues the investigation was meant to be examining impartially.
The fact-finding mission rejected the appeal, saying the investigation was not a judicial proceeding.
Related: The Goldstone Show-Trial
Love of the Land: U.S. Takes Its Seat at U.N. Rights Council, With Fresh Controversy Brewing Over Israel
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