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International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November 1999


Message of the Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate
Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian
People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories



Mr. Chairman,

I

I have the honour, on this important occasion - the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People - to convey to the Palestinian People; to you Sir; to the Secretary-General; and to this distinguished gathering the respects of the members of the Special Committee.

The Special Committee, under its terms of reference established by the General Assembly whether or not the conditions affecting human rights in the occupied territories are in conformity, or are not in conformity, with international standards and with the requirements of the Fourth Geneva Convention which the General Assembly and the Security Council have affirmed applies to the occupied territories.


II


The Special Committee has not had access to the occupied territories, it is true.

Yet it is not possible for the Special Committee to report otherwise than it has done, repeatedly, to the General Assembly that there is in the occupied territories - undoubtedly because of the over-all tensions that cloud life in the territories - a comprehensive and elaborate system of laws and regulations, and administrative measures, in place, that seem to curtail very restrictively all aspects of the lives of the peoples of the occupied territories, and to infringe significantly and substantially on their human rights.

The Special Committee heard, in the last year, a number of Israeli nationals - lawyers, social workers and others - knowledgeable as to human rights, who appeared before the Special Committee to speak, movingly and impressively, of their awareness and their concerns that things still are not as they should be in the occupied territories.

It was refreshing and encouraging for the Special Committee to learn of some occasions of meetings between palestinians and Israelis of the younger generation, showing what appeared to the Special Committee to be a willingness, between Israelis and Palestinians of the younger generation, to meet and communicate with one another, and bridge the divide.

The decision, a few months ago, by the Supreme Court of Israel, to prohibit certain extreme coercive methods of interrogation: an easing, a few weeks ago, of residency restrictions on Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the recent opening of access between Gaza and the West Bank; are also encouraging examples of what seems a more enlightened view which, hopefully, will lead, even while solutions to the many complexities of the Peace Process are being sought, to some measure of easing of the difficult conditions in the occupied territories.


III


Today is an appropriate day on which to reaffirm, on behalf of the Special Committee, its commitment to ensuring that it continues to be an impartial and objective voice, but nevertheless an adequate and effective voice, as to conditions affecting human rights in the occupied territories.

It is, of course, the profound hope of the Special Committee that the Peace process will soon be satisfactorily concluded through the bilateral negotiations on which the two parties have already embarked.

On the eve of the new Millenium, I have the honour to express the profound hope of the Special Committee that a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, long awaited by all the peoples of the region shall, at last, be achieved; resolving the many political, economic, social and human difficulties that have troubled the lives of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories for such a long period.

Thank you.