GENEVA, Switzerland (AhlulBayt News Agency) - UN member states have criticised Israel during a heated Human Rights Council (HRC) session for failing to abide by human rights laws and UN resolutions, with some labelling it an "apartheid regime".
The scolding came in this Swiss city on Tuesday as Israel was undergoing its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN-led process meant to assess the human rights record of each state and make recommendations for improvement.
"Israel is the only [entity] in the world that can be called an apartheid [regime]," the South African delegate told the Israeli delegation and UN members convened at the Palais des Nations.
"We remain deeply concerned at the denial of the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people, in the absence of which no other human right can be exercised or enjoyed."
The delegate was echoing the recommendations of several member states that called, above all, for an end of the 50-year-long occupation of Palestinian territory.
A number of UN member states expressed concern over what they saw as the deteriorating human rights situation in the Occupied Territories and Israel's blatant violations of UN resolutions.
"We call upon Israel to comply with international laws by immediately ending its 50-year colonial occupation and apartheid policies against the Palestinian people and dismantle the illegal wall and the related infrastructures located inside the OPT and compensate Palestinians for all of the losses incurred due to their presence," the Palestinian delegate said, adding that Palestinian "will not be discouraged".
Jordan, the UAE, Iran, Russia, Malaysia and other countries called on Israel to halt the occupation and annexation of Palestinian land, the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements, the forcible transfer of Palestinians and the demolition of Palestinian homes and structures.
For their part, Britain, Finland and Austria among other countries expressed concern over the arbitrary detention of children.
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source : Aljazeera
Wednesday
24 January 2018
7:41:10 AM
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UN member states have criticised Israel during a heated Human Rights Council (HRC) session for failing to abide by human rights laws and UN resolutions, with some labelling it an "apartheid regime".