Ex-rights chief to lead UN’s Israel-Palestinian inquiry

Geneva - Former UN rights chief Navi Pillay to lead a three-person investigation

Former UN rights chief Navi Pillay will lead the United Nations’ open-ended inquiry into “systematic” abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories, it was announced on Thursday.

The UN Human Rights Council’s president said Pillay would lead a three-person investigation intended to scrutinise abuses and their “root causes” in the decades-long Middle East conflict.

A commission of inquiry (COI) is the highest-level investigation that can be ordered by the council.

The probe was triggered during a special session of the council held on May 27 to discuss the surge in deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians earlier in the month.

The conflict killed 260 Palestinians including some fighters, according to Gaza authorities.

In Israel, 13 people were killed, including a soldier, by projectiles fired from Gaza, the police and army said.

The council established an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate “all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law” in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

The commission must investigate “all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity”.

The commissioners were mandated to get to the facts and circumstances surrounding violations and identify those responsible “with a view to ensuring that perpetrators of violations are held accountable”.

While the council has previously ordered eight investigations into rights violations committed in the Palestinian territories, this is the first with a mandate to examine “root causes” and probe systematic abuses.

The resolution was presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It passed with 24 of the council’s 47 members in favour.