A/HRC/34/38 20. In addition, settlements and related activities have repercussions on human rights. The ongoing expansion of settlements severely impedes the exercise by the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination and seriously deprives them of natural resources.44 2. Unlawful seizure and destruction of property 21. As set out in the Fourth Geneva Convention, the occupying power must administer public property according to the rules of usufruct. The occupying power can thus use and enjoy public property as long as doing so does not alter its character. 45 Private property must be respected and cannot be confiscated;46 the destruction of property by the occupying power is expressly prohibited by international humanitarian law. 47 The seizure of property, as well as the demolition of Palestinian houses, infrastructure and orchards, in order to establish, develop and maintain settlements and provide access to the latter are flagrant violations of the rules of usufruct. 22. Exceptions to the rules are only permitted if those rules specifically provide for them. In the absence of active hostilities in the West Bank, any exception to the rule prohibiting the alteration or destruction of private and public property appears difficult to invoke. 48 3. Demolitions and forcible transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank 23. International humanitarian law not only prohibits the transfer of the population of the occupying State into the occupied territory, but also individual or mass forcible transfer or deportation of the population of an occupied territory regardless of the motive. 49 Such transfer amounts to a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and is also considered a war crime.50 24. Over the years, the Secretary-General has reported on cases where the forcible transfer of Palestinians may have taken place within the West Bank and on the situation of individuals and communities at risk of forcible transfer, primarily Bedouins and other herder communities within Area C of the West Bank. Cases of forcible transfer are generally documented after the demolition of homes and infrastructure that leads to forced evictions,51 in violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.52 25. Having destroyed or seized 986 structures between 1 January and 31 October 2016 (more than twice for the number compared with the same period in 2015), in 2016 the Israeli authorities demolished more Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, than in any year since 2009, when the United Nations began to monitor the issue systematically. The majority of demolitions affected vulnerable Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities. Overall, 1,596 Palestinians were displaced in 2016, including 759 children, and 6,398 others were affected, including 2,007 children, by the demolition of residential and livelihood-related structures. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat, official data released by the 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 6 31/36, and earlier resolutions; and the declaration of 17 December 2014 of the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, para. 8. See Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall, para. 122; General Assembly resolution 71/247; and A/HRC/22/63, para. 38. Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, art. 55, Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 53, and ICRC, Customary International Humanitarian Law, rule 51. Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, arts. 46 and 56, Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 53, and ICRC, Customary International Humanitarian Law, rule 51. Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 53, and ICRC, Customary International Humanitarian Law, rule 51. ICRC, 1958 commentary to article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, p. 302. See the Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 49 (2), for exceptions. Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 147, and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, art. 8 (2) (b) (viii). See, e.g., A/HRC/25/40, paras. 18-21, A/69/347, para. 26, and A/67/372, paras. 36-37. Fourth Geneva Convention, art. 53; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 11; and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 17.