{"id":23023,"date":"2021-02-14T05:57:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T10:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=23023"},"modified":"2021-02-14T08:58:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T13:58:28","slug":"new-icc-ruling-opens-the-door-for-justice-in-occupied-palestine-independent-un-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=23023","title":{"rendered":"New ICC ruling \u2018opens the door\u2019 for justice in occupied Palestine \u2013 Independent UN expert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . . <\/p>\n

An article from United Nations News<\/a><\/p>\n

The ruling of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that is does have jurisdiction over grave crimes committed in occupied Palestinian territory is a \u201csignificant step forward in the quest for justice and accountability\u201d, an independent UN human rights expert said on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nA girl stands in front of her home in Khan Younis Palestine refugee camp in Gaza. \u00a9 UNRWA\/Hussein Jaber<\/center><\/p>\n

Q 1: An Israeli human rights group, B\u2019Tselem has labelled Israel as an \u201capartheid state\u201d over its policy of favoring Jews over the Palestinians earlier this month. How would you comment on this declaration? Could it ease the Israeli aggression on Palestinians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThis offers profound hope to those who believe that consequences, not condonation, must be the answer to the commission of grave crimes\u201d,\u00a0said\u00a0<\/a> Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for the\u00a0situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judgement, which includes potential war crimes, is a major move towards ending impunity in the 53-year-old occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leading political organs of the United Nations have repeatedly failed to enforce their own significant body of resolutions on the Israeli occupation\u201d, the UN expert said. \u201cThis ruling opens the door for credible allegations of Rome Statute crimes to finally be investigated and potentially reach the trial stage at the ICC.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Probing the past\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ICC prosecutor can now investigate a number of past allegations, including \u201cgrave crimes\u201d committed by Israel during the 2014 war against Gaza, the killing and wounding of thousands of largely unarmed demonstrators during the Great March of Return in 2018-2019 and Israel\u2019s settlement activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, according to the press release from\u00a0OHCHR<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

(continued in right column)<\/p>\n

(click here for a related article in French.)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Israel\/Palestine, is the situation like South Africa?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(continued from left column)<\/p>\n

Moreover, the prosecutor can also look into allegations of grave crimes involving Palestinian armed groups.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn adopting the Rome Statute and creating the International Criminal Court, the international community pledged its determination to end impunity for the perpetrators of grave crimes\u201d, the Special Rapporteur stated. \u201cYet, in the context of Israel\u2019s protracted occupation, the international community has permitted a culture of exceptionalism to prevail\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also maintained that, had international legal obligations been purposively enforced years ago, \u201cthe occupation and the conflict would have been justly resolved and there would have been no need for the ICC process\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unanswered reports\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteur elaborated on a number of authoritative UN reports in recent years that have called for accountability and for Israel to meaningfully investigate credible allegations of grave crimes \u2013 none of which has been implemented.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He cited one from the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict, which stated that \u201cjustice and respect for the rule of law are the indispensable basis for peace. The prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another referred to a 2013 report on the implications of the Israeli settlements and called upon Israel to \u201censure full accountability for all violations\u2026and to put an end to the policy of impunity\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Call for global backing\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Lynk urged the international community to support the ICC process, reminding that \u201cthe preamble of the Rome Statute calls for \u2018international cooperation\u2019 to ensure the \u2018lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice\u2019\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEnding impunity and pursuing justice can only bring us closer to peace in the Middle East\u201d, upheld the independent UN expert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His call has been endorsed by Nils Melzer,\u202fSpecial Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN\u00a0Human Rights Council\u00a0<\/a> to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions and the experts are not paid for their work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . . An article from United Nations News The ruling of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that is does have jurisdiction over grave crimes committed in occupied Palestinian territory is a \u201csignificant step forward in the quest for justice and accountability\u201d, an independent UN human rights expert said on Tuesday.\u00a0 A … Continue reading New ICC ruling \u2018opens the door\u2019 for justice in occupied Palestine \u2013 Independent UN expert<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,74,93],"tags":[8,94],"class_list":["post-23023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-mideast","category-united-nations","tag-mideast","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}