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UN rights council rebukes Israel for human rights violations in Lebanon By Joshua Pantesco

Jurist Friday Aug 11 2006

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[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council in an emergency special session [materials; JURIST report] in Geneva Friday adopted by majority vote a resolution [draft, PDF text] condemning Israel for violating international human rights laws in the ongoing Middle East conflict involving Lebanon. Twenty-seven of the 47 states with Council seats supported a slightly-amended final version of the measure, with 11 voting against, including 7 EU countries, Canada, Japan, Romania and Ukraine. Eight nations abstained, including Switzerland, although it had been critical of Israel in the past. The resolution also called for the immediate end to the offensive in southern Lebanon, and for a commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses there. A last-minute amendment broadened a call on Israel to respect humanitarian law to include “all interested parties”, but that was not enough to prevent the negative votes.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour read a statement [text] at the session setting out its legal context:

The most basic human right is the right to life: under no circumstances can anyone be arbitrarily deprived of his or her life. I, and many others, have repeatedly reminded all parties to the conflict that in carrying out military operations, they must distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants. Civilians must never be the object of a direct intentional attack. The anticipated incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian property must always be proportionate to the pursuit of a concrete and direct military objective. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited and civilians must not be used to shield military objectives from attack.

While effective advance warning of attacks which may affect civilian populations must be given, compliance with this legal obligation does not relieve the parties from their other obligations under international law regarding the protection of civilians. These are some of the fundamental principles that all belligerents must adhere to.

When these legal obligations regulating the conduct of hostilities are violated, personal criminal responsibility may ensue, particularly for those in position of command and control.

Thus, I reminded all belligerents that war crimes and crimes against humanity may be committed even by those who believe, accurately or not, that their combat is a just one and their cause a worthy pursuit.

Arbour additionally reminded the Council that Hezbollah is also guilty of violating human rights standards, citing Hezbollah’s use of human shields and missile attacks on densely-populated areas in northern Israel.

The session was convened by request of Tunisia on behalf of the UN Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference [advocacy website]. Reuters has more. The UN News Centre has additional coverage.

4 comments on “UN rights council rebukes Israel for human rights violations in Lebanon By Joshua Pantesco

  1. rabbiyonah
    15 August, 2006

    hen one nation launches a war agaisnt another nation, well, people get hurt. It is a tragedy. But to say that Israel did not do everything to try to minimilize casualties among civilians is simply a bold faced lie.

    This illustrious group of human rights abusers, including Saudia Arabia have condemned Israel for trying to destroy Hizbollah, which is waging a war against her.

    The current commission members :Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.

    What a great group of lovers of humanity and freedom.

    How about the destruction of homes, lives, and the environment in Israel? Ahh who cares.

  2. peoplesgeography
    15 August, 2006

    Hi Rabbi Yonah and thank you for your comment. I certainly do care about the destruction of lives, homes and the environment in Israel, as much as as I do in Lebanon. Where i may disagree is, first, your opening assertion, “when one nation launches a war against another nation”. This is simply not true. Hezbollah are not a nation and the rain of mostly ineffective Katyusha rockets, while certainly to be condemned, is certainly no cauise to lay waste to an entire country and its infrastructure. This is starkly assymetric. I care for Israel and its people and mourn deeply the bellicose and arrogant mood prevailing over much of the populace. Hamas and Hzbollah were created as a result of past unwise Israeli policy. We need dialogue, not more terror. With all respect, I disagree with your views. By pointing out other nations who are also guilty of human rights abuses (I’m with you there) does not in itself absolve Israel, as he fourth largest military hegemon in the world, of its responsibilities to act as a more mature broker in the region. Best wishes, Ann

  3. peoplesgeography
    17 August, 2006

    Dear Rabbi Yonah,
    Thanks for your response. I welcome being questioned and challenged, and to learn more. Out of your three messages this is the one that provided the most pause for thought – the other three commented on others’ opinions rather than my own. Yes, its true I give space to these dissenters with mainstream opinion, but this for many is an opportunity to get alternative media other than the incredibly narrow, sanitised corporate media coverage that is usually incredibly one-sided and biased. Does this mean that alternative media is not also biased and partial? No, but it does offer a counterweight and provides greater pluralism and much needed dissent.

    Now I said I learnt from your response and I am grateful for that. You quite rightly questioned the citing of Israel as the fourth largest military hegemon in the world. There are thousands of articles that cite this figure, but few that back it up with primary source references. It can however be more accurately qualified with the insertion of the term exporter. Israel is the world’s fourth largest military exporter. I stand corrected (or qualified, anyway).

    I must point out too that your own indicators should be qualified. You cite Wikipedia which is not the most authoritative source in the world but I’ll accept it. The list however is only of size of armed forces. This is not the only nor even arguably the best overall indicator of the size and might of a country’s military force.

    If you look at Wikipedia’s list of top countries in terms of military expenditure, Israel is right up there in the top 20, where no other Mid East country appears except Saudi Arabia, and the ranking wuld be even higher if the list was to take into account per capita expenditure. Here it is and is compiled from primary source data from SIPRI:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

    Rank Country Military expenditures, USD
    — World Total 1,000,000,000,000 2005
    1 United States 478,200,000,000 2005
    European Union 190,000,000,000 2004 est.
    2 United Kingdom 48,300,000,000 2005
    3 France 46,200,000,000 2005
    4 Japan 42,100,000,000 2005
    5 China 41,000,000,000 2005 est.
    6 Germany 40,200,000,000 2005
    7 Italy 27,200,000,000 2005
    8 Saudi Arabia 25,200,000,000 2005
    9 South Korea 21,600,000,000 2005
    10 Russia 21,000,000,000 2005 est.
    11 India 20,400,000,000 2005
    12 Canada 10,600,000,000 2005
    13 Australia 10,500,000,000 2005
    14 Spain 9,900,000,000 2005
    15 Israel 9,600,000,000 2005

    I take on board your questioning of the fourth largest military citation and will investigate further. It is not entirely wroong but it needed to be qualified. Also, it does depend what indices you use.

    Ann

  4. rabbiyonah
    17 August, 2006

    Dear Ann,
    Thank you for your answer.
    There are many things to comment on… perhaps i will start with objective facts that you have wrong, which lead me to believe that unless you unplug from the disinformation grid, you are going to be sold a lot of other junk. It is really important in the study of the area and in seeking to settle wars and conflicts to be operation with the right information and not depending on propoganda, myths, and other forms of falsehood.

    Take for example armies. You wrote that Irael is the fourth largest military hegemon in the world. Where did you get that information? It is completely wrong.

    Have you looked in Wikipedia? There is says Israel is….28th.
    Yes thats right.

    So how about your other “facts”. Or is Wikipedia a Zionist Controlled Media invention?

    1 People’s Republic of China
    2 United States
    3 India
    4 North Korea
    5 Russia
    6 Pakistan*
    7 South Korea
    8 Turkey
    9 Vietnam
    10 Egypt*
    11 Iran*
    12 Myanmar
    13 Indonesia*
    14 Thailand
    15 Syria*
    16 Ukraine
    17 Republic of China
    18 Brazil
    19 Germany
    20 France
    21 Japan
    22 Italy
    23 Saudi Arabia*
    24 Morocco*
    25 Mexico
    26 United Kingdom
    27 Greece
    28 Israel
    29 Ethiopia
    30 Spain

    I added the * to countries that have either fought a war with Israel, or harbor majority Muslim populations that hate Israel.

    On to other areas of disagreement:
    Hizbollah is PART of the Lebanese government, supported by at least half the population.

    Katushas have injured or maimed thousands of Israels. over 1 million Israelis were displaced from their homes or living in bomb shelters for a month. %20 of the population.

    And as far as being starkly assymetric— If you are being attcked are you only supposed to reply with the same amount of force? Or with more force in order to repell the attack? Hizbollah sent dozens of missles raining down on israel, then launched its raid into israel, killing 8. For what?

    And what of civilian deaths?
    When a bank robber holds a person hostage and that person dies during an ensuing battle, the bank robber is also guilty of murder.

    Hizbollah are guilt of the murder of all the civilians harmed as Israel fought them.

    Even human rights orgs agree that Hizbollah fighters mingle with the civilians, dress as civilians at times, launch missles from civilian areas, have their military headquarters in civilian areas…

    Hizbollah might be a proxy army for Iran, but they are Lebanses, firing 4000 rockets from Lebanon, and Israel has the right and duty to fight back, with all the horrible consequences.

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