ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday hailed the adoption of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation-led resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in response to grave violations of international law and human rights by Israeli forces in Palestinian territories.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement that the HRC special session and its decision to establish a standing international commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations represent a global resolve to end systemic impunity and injustice and begin a process of meaningful accountability.
“Pakistan stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and shares the international community’s expectation for effective implementation of this resolution to ensure respect for international law as well as for rights and dignity of the people of Palestine,” the spokesperson added.
On May 27, the UNHRC decided to create an open-ended international investigation into violations surrounding the latest bout of Israeli aggression against Gaza, and into “systematic” abuses by Israeli forces.
The resolution, which passed with 24 of the council’s 47 members in favour, would spur an unprecedented level of scrutiny on abuses and their “root causes” in the decades-long Middle East conflict.
The text, which was presented by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC, was debated during a special one-day council session focused on the surge in deadly violence in Gaza this month.
Earlier, speaking at a UN General Assembly special meeting on Palestine, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said Gaza has plunged in darkness, literally and metaphorically, while the only light is that of Israeli explosions.
“The General Assembly should call for concrete steps to protect the Palestinians. We should deploy an international protection force, as was called for in General Assembly Resolution ES-10/20 and as demanded by the Islamic Summit Conference on 18 May 2018,” Qureshi said.
”If the Security Council cannot agree to send a protection force, a ‘coalition of the willing’ can be formed to provide at least civilian observers to monitor a cessation of the hostilities and supervise the provision of humanitarian help to the Palestinians,” he suggested.
