OIC and NAM groupings convenve Special Session of the UNCHR over right violations in Gaza

Upon the request of the OIC Group in Geneva, supported by the Arab Group, African Group and the Group of Non Aligned Movement (NAM), a Special Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) convened on Friday 9 January 2009 to consider the grave human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including the Israeli aggression in Gaza.

Pursuant to the decision of the Executive Committee extraordinary ministerial meeting held in Jeddah on the 3rd of January, the initiative of the OIC group, cosponsored by 32 out of 47 members of the HRC, was justified by the urgent necessity to address concretely and effectively the alarming humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza after the Israeli military assault which has caused thousands of victims and large scale of destruction of infrastructure.

The Chairman of the Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the


situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestine, Coordinators of all regional groupings (OIC, Arab, African, NAM, EU, GRULAC Groups) and representatives of states together with the representatives from international and intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations took the floor to express their profound rejection of the inhuman situation in Gaza and their condemnation of the killing of innocent civilians.

They condemned the unrestrained and disproportionate use of force by Israeli military forces, massive destruction of the infrastructure and disruption of the basic services.

The draft resolution submitted to the 9th Special Session of the Human Rights Council condemned the ongoing violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories particularly in the Gaza Strip resulting from the ongoing Israeli military attacks and :

• Called for immediate cessation of the Israeli military attacks;
• Called for urgent lifting of the blockage to allow access and free movement of the humanitarian aid to the occupied Gaza;
• Called for immediate protection of the Palestinian people in compliance with the humanitarian law and international humanitarian law;
• Requested the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to immediately put in place a Rapid Response Team to monitor the violations of human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel, the occupying power and report to the HRC;
• Urged all parties concerned to respect the rules of the human rights law and international humanitarian law and to refrain from violence against civilian people.

Ihsanoglu welcomes Security Council resolution on Gaza; calls on the Council to follow up on implementation

Date: 09/01/2009

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, welcomed the adoption last night of a resolution by the UN Security Council on the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.

He stated that although the Security Council has passed the resolution belatedly two weeks after the launch of the onslaught on Gaza, causing hundreds of casualties, leaving thousands injured, and wreaking massive destruction on property and civic facilities, and even though the resolution does not address some major issues related to the Israeli aggression, notably the need for Israel to immediately pull out from the Gaza Strip and the need for Israel to respect human rights and international humanitarian law; still, the resolution represents a step in the right direction, but it requires to be implemented immediately.

Ihsanoglu called on the UN Security Council to follow up on the implementation of the resolution and to ensure that all concerned parties abide by it and that Israel demonstrates commitment to stopping its aggression, withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, lifting the siege imposed on Gaza, opening the crossings, and allowing humanitarian assistance to cross into Gaza.

The Secretary General emphasized that the UN General Assembly could play a major role by resuming its Tenth Emergency Special Session on Palestine. He added that the special session called for by the President of the General Assembly should review the implementation of the Security Council resolution and pinpoint the aspects the resolution failed to address.

Ihsanoglu also condemned Israel for attacking humanitarian relief teams, personnel from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, staff from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), precluding them from conducting their humanitarian mission.

The Secretary General pointed out that the OIC is currently deploying strenuous efforts to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to the victims of the Israeli aggression. He mentioned that a high-level delegation from the OIC General Secretariat was dispatched to Cairo, Egypt, to conduct consultations with the Egyptian government on the proper mechanisms to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.
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Al-Masakin News Agency
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