It has been a year since the military operations in
Gaza. However, justice and accountability on the grave human rights
violations during the operation have not been achieved yet.
In November 2009, Justice Goldstone, a head of the UN Fact-Finding
Mission on the Gaza Conflict, accepted an exclusive interview with
Human Rights Now.
Human Rights Now is glad to introduce the whole interview here.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, established by
the UN Human Rights Council, chaired by Justice Goldstone, investigated
human rights violations related to the Gaza Conflict. The Mission found
that war crimes were committed by both Israel and Palestinian armed
groups and noted a referral to the International Criminal Court.
Despite approvals of a report of the Mission by the UN General Assembly
and the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Security Council has not dealt
with it yet.
All copyrights of this interview belong to Human Rights Now. The
interview may not be copied, distributed or translated without written
permission.
Interview with Justice Goldstone (Kazuko Ito Secretary General, Human Rights Now)
14 November, 2009 in Vienna
(Before you accepted the head of the mission, you might have had hesitation. Why did you decide to accept the mandate?)
I hesitated to accept the mandate, because the Council resolution was not even handed.
That is why I rejected first.
But, it turned out that the structure of the mission includes both side investigations.
Under this condition, I accepted the mandate and did my best to conduct fair investigation.
(What makes your report special compare to previous fact finding
mission’s report? The report has great impact, since you identified the
war crimes and talk about the ICC)
I think that nothing is special.
I just did proper thing. Other fact finding mission did the same thing,
for example Darfur mission found war crime, and recommend the referral
to the ICC.
(But in case of Israel and Palestine, things are usually different. I
know this is the first mission established by the UN Human Rights
Council, but anyhow, it is quite new thing that war crime and the
referral to the ICC is discussed clearly in UN official finding related
to OPT.)
We just want to be fair applying international law.
If the gravity of the human rights violation is the same level, the finding and recommendation should be the same.
(Why did you make recommendation to the Security Council to refer the case to the ICC)?
Because it was the only way to achieve justice for victims in this case.
Israel is not the state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, so you need to obtain a Security Council Resolution.
(You found that killings of civilians during this military action
constitute war crimes. But Israel argues that casualities of Palestine
people was collateral and it’s Hamas’s responsibility to have Palestine
people as human shield. How do you respond to argument of Israel?)
Among the cases we investigated, we did not find any case that Hamas
used Palestine people as human shield. But we did not investigate all
cases, so I do not know if there is any such case.
But, even if the Hamas used Palestine people as human shield, it is not
justified to conduct disproportionate attack on civilians.
(Now, Human Rights Council and General Assembly passed resolutions to
support your report. What do you expect the international community to
do next?)
If the Security Council does not act immediately, international
community should put more and more pressure to make both sides conduct
the proper investigation.
Of course, I hope the Security Council to do the right thing to achieve justice for victims.
(Regrettably, many western countries abstain or against the General
Assembly and Human Rights Council resolution, by saying it is
politically unbalanced, how is your reaction?)
Why did Japan abstain?
(I remember, the Japanese government said that the resolutions are highly political, or not well balanced.)
I have not heard clear reason why the western countries and Japan
claimed that my report is not well balanced. I want to ask the reason
clearly. It was very disappointing.
(How do you think the allegation that seeking justice undermines the peace process of Middle East?)
No, achieving justice does always good for peace.
(It is true especially for the case of Middle East. Human rights
violation is the basis of the conflict, and people suffer from human
rights violation for such a long time without any justice and
accountability.)
Yes.
(What is your last massage to the international community?)
All crimes and violations wherever it was done should be dealt with in the same way under international law.
(Did your work as the head of the mission finish?)
Yes, I finished my job. Now, it is work of civil society to achieve justice.
Good luck.
Global civil society coalition urges UN General Assembly to support Goldstone recommendations on Gaza
The General Assembly will meet on 4 November to consider the report of the
United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, which found
evidence that both Israel and the Palestinians committed serious war crimes
during the hostilities earlier this year.
Human Rights Now, among 40 NGOs around the world, sent open letter to all
member states of UN General Assembly to support the recommendation of the
Goldstone report and work to adopt a resolution to ensure justice and
accountability for victims of the Gaza conflict.
See the whole letter;
A global coalition of civil society organizations from every corner of the
world, ranging from Human Rights Now in Japan to the South African Council
of Churches, have urged members of the United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA) to support the recommendations of the Goldstone Report and work to
adopt a resolution which will ensure accountability for victims of the Gaza
conflict earlier this year.
In the letter from the groups, which include Physicians for Human Rights in
Israel, the Democracy Coalition Project, the Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights in Gaza, Open Society Institute, and the Centro de Estudios Legales y
Sociales in Argentina, the NGOs urge the adoption of a resolution by the
64th UNGA which calls upon the Israeli Government and relevant Palestinian
authorities to launch “credible, independent investigations of the findings
of the Goldstone Report…[that] will promote accountability among all
parties to the conflict and put an end to the culture of impunity.”
During the 12th Session of the Human Rights Council, Justice Richard
Goldstone presented a report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on
the Gaza Conflict that found evidence of serious violations of human rights
and humanitarian law committed by both Israeli forces and Hamas fighters.
Goldstone concluded that State parties should start criminal investigations
where there is evidence of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
The letter specifically asks the United Nations to ensure an independent
international mechanism is established to assess investigations by Israeli
and Palestinian authorities.
The organizations urge the international community to demonstrate its
unequivocal support for human rights and the protection of Israeli and
Palestinian civilians. “The international community must demonstrate resolve
on the issue of accountability on both sides of this conflict and ensure
that international law is upheld. It is this approach which will strengthen
the chances of peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians,” the letter
states.
Among the 40 current signatories of the letter are the Public Committee
Against Torture in Israel, Human Rights Watch, Asian Legal Resources Centre,
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Cairo Institute for Human Rights
Studies, Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme,
International Center for Transitional Justice, and the International
Commission of Jurists.