UN committee urges states, entities not to contribute to violations of Palestinian human rights

A UN committee on the rights of the Palestinians underscored in its report the international responsibility not to contribute to violations of Palestinian human rights, its rapporteur said Tuesday.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People “underscores the responsibility of states and private entities not to contribute to violations of Palestinian human rights, in particular with respect to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” said Adela Raz, rapporteur of the committee.

Presenting the report to the United Nations General Assembly, Raz said the committee deems unilateral decisions by UN member states to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of embassies in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as null and void.

“It calls upon the member states to rescind those decisions and respect the historic status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem, and to preserve the legal, demographic and historical multi-cultural and multi-religious status of the city,” she said.

The report made these recommendations in an apparent refutation to the United States’ recent shift of position to no longer viewing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory as illegal.

The recommendations also echoed the General Assembly’s resolution that asked nations not to establish diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, adopted in 2017 after the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Tuesday’s plenary meeting of the General Assembly focuses on the question of the Palestinians. Over 20 member states are slated to speak at an open debate on the topic, and the assembly will vote on four draft resolutions on matters related to the question after the debate.

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Source: Xinhua