GENEVA: The United States, on behalf of 27 countries, condemned Tuesday the open-ended nature of the UN investigation into alleged human rights violations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the “disproportionate” attention on Israel.
US ambassador Michele Taylor told the United Nations’ Human Rights Council that the group of countries was “deeply concerned” about the Commission of Inquiry (COI), with its “open-ended mandate with no sunset clause” or closing date.
The countries, including Austria, Britain, Canada and Italy, demanded an end to the “long-standing disproportionate attention given to Israel in the council”. The COI, which is the highest-level investigation that can be ordered by the Human Rights Council, was set up in May 2021 following a surge in deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians earlier that month. The council established an ongoing independent, international COI to investigate “all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law” in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
It is also charged with looking into “all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict”.
The first-ever open-ended COI is being conducted by UN rights chief Navi Pillay of South Africa, along with India’s Miloon Kothari and Chris Sidoti of Australia.
At a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday, Kothari referenced the calls for a sunset clause.
“We would like to see a sunset of the Israeli occupation... but until that time, an open-ended mandate is more than justified,” he said.
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