ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS APPEALS FOR END TO CURRENT VIOLENCE IN MIDDLE EAST

25 August 2003




The following statement was issued on Friday evening by acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan :

"The sort of senseless and repulsive violence that struck our colleagues in Baghdad this week is, tragically, also witnessed elsewhere. Only hours after more than 20 of our friends and coworkers were cut down by cowardly terrorists, at least 20 civilians were slaughtered in a suicide bombing in a Jerusalem bus.

The attack in Jerusalem has been followed by extensive Israeli military operations, including destruction of houses in Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarem, Jenin and Ramallah. Yesterday, as the Secretary-General pointed out, Israel resorted to extra-judicial measures in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces killed a Hamas leader and his bodyguards in a helicopter attack over Gaza city, also injuring some fifteen civilians. Israeli operations are reportedly still ongoing in the West Bank, with more deaths to be feared.

Such acts of violence on both sides are severe and unacceptable breaches of the truce agreed upon by the Palestinian Authority and Israel and work against all efforts carried out so far within the Road Map process to achieve a just and sustainable peace in the region. The acting High Commissioner solemnly appeals to all parties concerned to refrain from any further act of violence and to do their utmost to control those who commit terrorist acts against civilians or those engaging in disproportionate use of force. He also calls on them to ensure that peace, paying due account to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and paving the way for a better protection and promotion of human rights, becomes a reality for both Palestinian and Israeli populations."



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