Israel’s HRC Review: Abuses Affect All Rights

Geneva—The UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), overseeing implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has issued its Concluding Observations on Israel. In its review the Committee recognizing the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights, particularly evident in the patterns of Israel’s violations against the Palestinian people’s human rights. Thus, HRC reiterated its previous observations about Israel’s excessive use of force, discriminatory denial of due process and fair trials and continuous use of absolutely prohibited torture, the Committee demonstrated the link between the violation of the corresponding process rights and their consequences for economic, social and cultural rights.

The Committee repudiated Israel’s false interpretation of the Covenant contrary to its “extraterritorial application” of treaty obligations, including the Covenant’s applicability in the occupied Palestinian territory. While noting some improvements in the investigative mechanisms to address violations inside Israel, HRC found that the state has failed both to acknowledge or investigate violations during its two major military operations Gaza during the review period, particularly at the command level. HRC further noted, once again, that Israel operates distinct degrees and systems of rights and protections, differentiating among Jewish-Israelis, Palestinian citizens of Israel, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Palestinians in the other occupied territories.

Basing its findings on the Government of Israel (GoI) report, parallel reports from Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights NGOs and a robust dialog with the state at Geneva (20 October 2014), the HRC specifically cited Israel’s violations of human rights related to housing, water, sanitation and access to land, giving special attention to punitive house and property demolitions, discrimination in the planning and zoning regime and resulting displacement of Palestinians. The relevant Concluding Observations particularly also cited the link between the denial of access to natural resources and the right to self-determination.

The HRC Concluding Observations call of Israel immediately to put an end to punitive demolitions as incompatible with the state’s obligations under the Covenant, and to provide effective remedies to victims of property destruction, forced eviction and forcible transfer (i.e., population transfer). In that line, the independent Committee members collectively advised Israel to refrain from implementing evictions and demolition orders based on discriminatory planning policies, laws and practices affecting Palestinians, including Bedouins, in the West Bank, the East Jerusalem periphery and the Naqab; to remove discriminatory provisions from relevant planning and zoning legislation; provide for procedural protection and due process guarantees against forced evictions and demolitions; ensure Palestinians’ participation in planning and zoning process, and withdraw the discriminatory Bill for the Regulation of the Bedouin Settlement in the Negev (the Prawer-Begin Bill).

With regard to violations of the Covenant in the Gaza Strip, the Committee also called on the occupying state to end the ongoing blockade and delay to reconstruction efforts of the Gaza Strip, as it continues to violate human rights guaranteed under the Covenant and Israel’s treaty-bound obligations to respect, protect and fulfill them.

The Committee called on Israel to ensure and facilitate nondiscriminatory access of Palestinians to land, natural resources, water and sanitation; to ensure that Palestinians have full access to their lands and livelihood; and to put an end to the practice of expropriation of land including for Israeli settlements and the Separation Wall. It also called for the withdrawal of all settlers from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The HRC Concluding Observations repeatedly cite Israel’s violations to covenanted obligations under all of Articles 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 of the treaty, as well as the Committee’s general comments Nos. 29, 31 and 34.

Israel’s HRC Review: Abuses Affect All Rights

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