Adalah to UN: Israeli investigations "are little more than ink on paper" [With titles]

Описание: Adalah International Advocacy Coordinator Soheir Asaad at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 18 March 2019 on Israel's response to Gaza's Great March of Return:

Oral Intervention to the UN Human Rights Council
40th Regular Session, Item 7, General Debate

Madam Vice President,

As we discuss the findings of the Commission of Inquiry, Israeli snipers continue to intentionally shoot at Palestinian civilians at Gaza’s Great March of Return, without fear of consequences.

This reality exists because of the deep and chronic failings of Israel’s domestic investigation system, and the shield of impunity it provides to its forces.

Last year, Adalah, Al Mezan, and other organizations petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to challenge the rules of engagement allowing live fire to be used on demonstrators.

The Court, which was not even given access to those rules, nonetheless gave the green light for the army to apply them.

It is no surprise, then, that the Commission cast doubt over Israel’s willingness to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions at the march.

Madam Vice President,

For over twenty years, Adalah has found that Israel’s domestic investigations fall far, far short of international standards.

While Israel issued reports to supposedly improve its domestic system, today, those reports are little more than ink on paper, and any future investigations will only be a smokescreen to hide its culture of impunity.

As such, I am here to remind the Council of the Palestinian victims listed in the Commission’s report – the students, the carpenters, the brick layers, the medics, the journalists, and more.

For them and their families, Adalah urges this Council to support the Commission’s report, and to ensure accountability, remedies, and justice for the crimes committed.