Hamas en Israël moeten zelf onderzoek doen naar de oorlogsmisdaden die zij rond de jaarwisseling op de Gazastrook hebben gepleegd. Zo leggen ze daarvoor rekenschap af.
Dat hebben de Verenigde Naties verklaard. Wanneer zij dat binnen een half jaar niet doen, dan kunnen ze worden aangeklaagd bij het Internationaal Strafhof wegens oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid.
Het Nederlands parlement en minister Maxime Verhagen (Buitenlandse Zaken) zijn ook van mening dat Israel en Hamas zelf een onderzoek moeten instellen.
Dat was de uitkomst van een debat in de Kamer dat dinsdag werd gevoerd. De minister zal deze week bij de VN-Mensenrechtenraad aandringen op zo'n onderzoek.
“Laat de strijdende partijen deze beschuldigingen zelf onderzoeken,” bepleit kamerlid Van Dam (PvdA).
De Kamer en minister Verhagen vielen hem bij: “Zo'n onderzoek is dienstbaar aan het vredesproces,” aldus Verhagen.
Hij zal deze week binnen de VN-Mensenrechtenraad aandringen op een resolutie met die strekking.
Goldstone
De commissie Goldstone heeft voor de VN onderzoek uitgevoerd naar mogelijke oorogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid die zijn gepleegd tijdens de strijd die zich begin 2009 afspeelde.
Vorige week bracht het rapport-Goldstone naar buiten dat Israël en de Palestijnse beweging Hamas tijdens de Gazaoorlog oorlogsmisdaden hebben gepleegd en het humanitair recht hebben geschonden. Dit kan oplopen tot misdaden tegen de menselijkheid.
Dit rapport dringt aan op eigen onderzoek van Israel en Hamas, zodat deze partijen verantwoording afleggen voor hun daden.
De VN wil een onderzoek van Hamas en Israel binnen een half jaar zien. Anders kunnen deze partijen die worden beschuldigd van de misdaden aangeklaagd worden bij het Internationaal Gerechtshof wegens het plegen van oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid.
Zie ook:
Missie VN vindt bewijs oorlogsmisdaden Israël en Palestijnse militanten
Robvandam (Robson)
Het verslag van de VN over de conclusie van de commissie Goldstone
HEAD OF UN RIGHTS PROBE INTO GAZA CONFLICT URGES ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WAR CRIMES
The head of the United Nations fact finding mission into the Gaza conflict today urged an end to impunity for human rights violations committed there earlier this year, given evidence that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants are guilty of serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law, which may amount to crimes against humanity.
“It is accountability above all that is called for in the aftermath of the regrettable violence that has caused so much misery for so many,” Justice Richard Goldstone said as he presented the mission’s report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, which mandated the probe.
Following its three-month investigation, the mission concluded that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel in the context of its military operations in Gaza from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity.
The four-member team, whose 575-page report was released earlier this month, also found that Palestinian armed groups had committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity.
Justice Goldstone urged the 47-member Council to implement a number of measures, including referral of the mission’s report to the Security Council, since neither the Government of Israel nor the responsible Palestinian authorities have so far carried out any credible investigations into alleged violations.
“The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point; the ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence,” he stated.
The report recommends that the Security Council require Israel and the authorities in Gaza to report to it, within six months, on investigations and prosecutions it should carry out with regard to the violations identified by the mission.
It also recommends that the Security Council set up a body of independent experts to report to it on the progress of the Israeli and Palestinian investigations and prosecutions.
If the experts’ reports do not indicate within six months that independent proceedings are taking place, the mission says the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – the independent, permanent court that investigates and prosecutes people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“Now is the time for action,” said Justice Goldstone, a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. “A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long.”
The other members of the team are Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science at the University of London; Hina Jilani, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders; and retired Colonel Desmond Travers, member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI).
(VN: New York, Sep 29, 2009)
Posts tonen met het label nederland. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label nederland. Alle posts tonen
woensdag 30 september 2009
maandag 12 januari 2009
Gruwelijke scènes van slachtoffers bij ziekenhuis van Gaza, ook Nederland medisch team in actie
Ondanks de resolutie van de Veiligheidsraad dat er een staakt-het-vuren moet komen gaan de gevechten in Gaza nog door. Functionarissen van de VN maken melding dat ze gruwen van het menselijk leed. 25 procent van de doden zijn vrouwen en kinderen en 40 procent van de gewonden.
Dat meldde John Ging die leiding geeft aan de UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Ging is in het Shifa-ziekenhuis en sprak via een videoverbinding met de pers in New York. Hij bevestigt hiermee berichten die de Noorse arts Mads Gilbert vorige week al aan de wereld kenbaar maakte.
De VN-gezant toonde zijn lof voor “de helden”, het personeel van het Palestijnse ziekenhuis die de klok rond werkten en die het besef van tijd kwijt zijn geraakt.
De artsen hebben versterking gekregen van 40 medische personeelsleden uit Noorwegen, Nederland, Egypte en Jordanië.
Het ziekenhuis is gevuld met mensen waarvan het leven in veel opzichten is verwoest, maar ze leven nog.
Tot en met maandag zijn er 884 doden gevallen, waaronder 275 kinderen en 93 vrouwen (42 procent) en 3.860 gewonden, waaronder 1.333 kinderen en 597 vrouwen (49 procent).
Ging toonde zich geschokt dat het geweld op grote schaal nog verder gaat in Gaza. In de drie jaar dat hij er werkt heeft hij niet eerder een verschrikking meegemaakt op deze schaal.
Het Kinderfonds UNICEF heeft om 16 miljoen dollar extra middelen gevraagd om hulp te verlenen.
Het Wereldvoedselprogramma (WFP) en andere organisaties zullen hun werkzaamheden zo ver dat mogelijk is voortzetten.
Ondertussen hebben 35.000 inwoners van Gaza hun huizen verlaten en een schuilplaats gezocht op 38 locaties van de UNRW.
John Ging prees nogmaals de dapperheid van de medische teams uit het buitenland die zijn gekomen. Gezien de verwondingen zijn zij de enige die de situatie aankunnen.
“De oplossing hier is de gevechten te stoppen zodat er geen slachtoffers meer vallen, dat is wat we willen,” zo eindigde de VN-functionaris zijn videoverbinding.
Bloggers uit Gaza meldden maandag dat de aanvallen in Gaza ondertussen nog heviger zijn geworden.
Het verslag van de Verenigde Naties
GAZA: UN OFFICIAL REPORTS HORRIFIC HOSPITAL SCENES OF CASUALTIES
Appalled that fighting was still continuing in Gaza despite the Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, senior United Nations officials said today they were horrified at the human costs amid reports that over 40 per cent of the nearly 900 Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive, and almost half of the 3,860 wounded, were women and children.
“Behind those statistics that we read out every day is really profound human suffering and grave tragedy for all involved and not just for those who are killed and injured but for their families as well,” UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)”
Director of Operations John Ging told a news conference in New York, speaking by video link from Gaza, where he had just visited the main Al Shifa hospital.
“(It) is the place of course where you see the most horrific human consequences of this conflict. Among the tragic cases that I saw were a child, six years of age, little or no brain activity, people don’t have much hope for her survival; multiple amputee – another little girl; and a pregnant woman who’d lost a leg,” he said, as the Israeli offensive went into its 17th day with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks into Israel.
“The hospital is really full of patients whose lives have been in many instances really destroyed, and they’re alive.”
Mr. Ging paid tribute to “the heroes,” the Palestinian hospital staff who have been working round the clock and have lost track of time, and the 40 expatriate medical staff who have joined them from Norway, the Netherlands, Egypt and Jordan, among other places.
He said the sense of fear in Gaza was all pervasive among a battle-hardened population of 1.5 million that had already seen many years of conflict. “In my three years here I have never witnessed anything like the scale of fear that is there,” he stressed. “We have to recognize that there’s no safe place in Gaza and that continues to be the case and the casualty figures speak to that.”
Speaking in New York, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told the news conference the UN had been unable to independently verify the casualty figures given by the Palestinians but they seemed plausible. As of today, there were 884 dead, 275 of them children and 93 women (42 per cent), and 3,860 wounded, 1,333 of them children and 587 women (49 per cent).
“I am appalled that violence on this scale is still continuing in Gaza and horrified at the human cost of all this,” he said. “What continues to be worrying is that the Palestinian civilian casualty rate appears to be still increasing.”
On a more positive note, the two officials reported that UN food delivery and other operations, suspended after a fatal attack on an UNRWA driver last week, have resumed following Israeli reassurances and aid is now moving around Gaza as much as possible. Mr. Ging said he was very satisfied with the more effective system put in place in high-level talks with the Israelis.
Mr. Holmes said more food supplies were getting through and power supply had improved because of infrastructure repairs and some fuel getting through, but the situation was still not satisfactory even if better than before. Some 500,000 people still lack water as Israel’s daily three-hour lull in fighting was insufficient for carrying out repairs and other UN operations, he added, urging Israel to extend the time period.
UNICEF
The UN Children’s Fund UNICEF as appealed for $16 million to provide families and children with emergency supplies. “We desperately need more resources,” Director of Emergency Operations Louis-George Arsenault said, calling on Israel to increase the daily three-hour window for deliveries.
WFP
Asked what would happen if Israel escalated its operations deeper into Gaza’s cities, Mr. Holmes said UNRWA, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and others would want to continue their activities insofar as they can. “The fear is that any escalated operations would produce even more casualties, especially when operating in these densely populated urban areas and this would compound what is already a very dramatic humanitarian crisis,” he added.
Mr. Ging said 35,000 Gazans had now fled their homes for shelter in 38 UNRWA locations, and many more had sought refuge with relatives in other parts of the Gaza Strip. In answer to questions, he said he had no evidence that Shifa hospital was being used for Hamas military purposes and reiterated his call for an independent investigation amid conflicting reports on deadly Israeli shellings near an UNRWA school and a housing complex in Zaitoun last week.
“I hope that those who are dealing with this issue [the conflict] at the political level will have the same courage and humanity as I’ve witnessed here at Shifa hospital with the doctors who have come from abroad to help. They can only deal with the consequences in the terms of the injuries,” he concluded. “The solution here is to stop the fighting, stop creating the casualties, that’s what we want.”
(VN: Jan 12 2009)
Zie ook
Noorse arts Mads Gilbert in Gaza roept wereld op om Israel te stoppen
Dat meldde John Ging die leiding geeft aan de UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Ging is in het Shifa-ziekenhuis en sprak via een videoverbinding met de pers in New York. Hij bevestigt hiermee berichten die de Noorse arts Mads Gilbert vorige week al aan de wereld kenbaar maakte.
De VN-gezant toonde zijn lof voor “de helden”, het personeel van het Palestijnse ziekenhuis die de klok rond werkten en die het besef van tijd kwijt zijn geraakt.
De artsen hebben versterking gekregen van 40 medische personeelsleden uit Noorwegen, Nederland, Egypte en Jordanië.
Het ziekenhuis is gevuld met mensen waarvan het leven in veel opzichten is verwoest, maar ze leven nog.
Tot en met maandag zijn er 884 doden gevallen, waaronder 275 kinderen en 93 vrouwen (42 procent) en 3.860 gewonden, waaronder 1.333 kinderen en 597 vrouwen (49 procent).
Ging toonde zich geschokt dat het geweld op grote schaal nog verder gaat in Gaza. In de drie jaar dat hij er werkt heeft hij niet eerder een verschrikking meegemaakt op deze schaal.
Het Kinderfonds UNICEF heeft om 16 miljoen dollar extra middelen gevraagd om hulp te verlenen.
Het Wereldvoedselprogramma (WFP) en andere organisaties zullen hun werkzaamheden zo ver dat mogelijk is voortzetten.
Ondertussen hebben 35.000 inwoners van Gaza hun huizen verlaten en een schuilplaats gezocht op 38 locaties van de UNRW.
John Ging prees nogmaals de dapperheid van de medische teams uit het buitenland die zijn gekomen. Gezien de verwondingen zijn zij de enige die de situatie aankunnen.
“De oplossing hier is de gevechten te stoppen zodat er geen slachtoffers meer vallen, dat is wat we willen,” zo eindigde de VN-functionaris zijn videoverbinding.
Bloggers uit Gaza meldden maandag dat de aanvallen in Gaza ondertussen nog heviger zijn geworden.
Het verslag van de Verenigde Naties
GAZA: UN OFFICIAL REPORTS HORRIFIC HOSPITAL SCENES OF CASUALTIES
Appalled that fighting was still continuing in Gaza despite the Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, senior United Nations officials said today they were horrified at the human costs amid reports that over 40 per cent of the nearly 900 Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive, and almost half of the 3,860 wounded, were women and children.
“Behind those statistics that we read out every day is really profound human suffering and grave tragedy for all involved and not just for those who are killed and injured but for their families as well,” UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)”
Director of Operations John Ging told a news conference in New York, speaking by video link from Gaza, where he had just visited the main Al Shifa hospital.
“(It) is the place of course where you see the most horrific human consequences of this conflict. Among the tragic cases that I saw were a child, six years of age, little or no brain activity, people don’t have much hope for her survival; multiple amputee – another little girl; and a pregnant woman who’d lost a leg,” he said, as the Israeli offensive went into its 17th day with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks into Israel.
“The hospital is really full of patients whose lives have been in many instances really destroyed, and they’re alive.”
Mr. Ging paid tribute to “the heroes,” the Palestinian hospital staff who have been working round the clock and have lost track of time, and the 40 expatriate medical staff who have joined them from Norway, the Netherlands, Egypt and Jordan, among other places.
He said the sense of fear in Gaza was all pervasive among a battle-hardened population of 1.5 million that had already seen many years of conflict. “In my three years here I have never witnessed anything like the scale of fear that is there,” he stressed. “We have to recognize that there’s no safe place in Gaza and that continues to be the case and the casualty figures speak to that.”
Speaking in New York, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told the news conference the UN had been unable to independently verify the casualty figures given by the Palestinians but they seemed plausible. As of today, there were 884 dead, 275 of them children and 93 women (42 per cent), and 3,860 wounded, 1,333 of them children and 587 women (49 per cent).
“I am appalled that violence on this scale is still continuing in Gaza and horrified at the human cost of all this,” he said. “What continues to be worrying is that the Palestinian civilian casualty rate appears to be still increasing.”
On a more positive note, the two officials reported that UN food delivery and other operations, suspended after a fatal attack on an UNRWA driver last week, have resumed following Israeli reassurances and aid is now moving around Gaza as much as possible. Mr. Ging said he was very satisfied with the more effective system put in place in high-level talks with the Israelis.
Mr. Holmes said more food supplies were getting through and power supply had improved because of infrastructure repairs and some fuel getting through, but the situation was still not satisfactory even if better than before. Some 500,000 people still lack water as Israel’s daily three-hour lull in fighting was insufficient for carrying out repairs and other UN operations, he added, urging Israel to extend the time period.
UNICEF
The UN Children’s Fund UNICEF as appealed for $16 million to provide families and children with emergency supplies. “We desperately need more resources,” Director of Emergency Operations Louis-George Arsenault said, calling on Israel to increase the daily three-hour window for deliveries.
WFP
Asked what would happen if Israel escalated its operations deeper into Gaza’s cities, Mr. Holmes said UNRWA, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and others would want to continue their activities insofar as they can. “The fear is that any escalated operations would produce even more casualties, especially when operating in these densely populated urban areas and this would compound what is already a very dramatic humanitarian crisis,” he added.
Mr. Ging said 35,000 Gazans had now fled their homes for shelter in 38 UNRWA locations, and many more had sought refuge with relatives in other parts of the Gaza Strip. In answer to questions, he said he had no evidence that Shifa hospital was being used for Hamas military purposes and reiterated his call for an independent investigation amid conflicting reports on deadly Israeli shellings near an UNRWA school and a housing complex in Zaitoun last week.
“I hope that those who are dealing with this issue [the conflict] at the political level will have the same courage and humanity as I’ve witnessed here at Shifa hospital with the doctors who have come from abroad to help. They can only deal with the consequences in the terms of the injuries,” he concluded. “The solution here is to stop the fighting, stop creating the casualties, that’s what we want.”
(VN: Jan 12 2009)
Zie ook
Noorse arts Mads Gilbert in Gaza roept wereld op om Israel te stoppen
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