A/HRC/RES/31/35
Emphasizing the importance of the safety and well-being of all civilians, reaffirming
the obligation to ensure the protection of civilians in armed conflict, and deploring the
civilian deaths that resulted from the conflict in and around the Gaza Strip in, inter alia,
July and August 2014, including the killing of 1,462 Palestinian civilians, including 551
children and 299 women, and six Israeli civilians,
Gravely concerned by reports regarding serious human rights violations and grave
breaches of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes, including the
findings of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza
Conflict, of the United Nations independent international fact-finding mission to investigate
the implications of Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including
East Jerusalem, of the independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict and of
the boards of inquiry convened by the Secretary-General,
Condemning all violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and
appalled at the widespread and unprecedented levels of destruction, death and human
suffering caused in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,
Stressing the urgency of achieving without delay an end to the Israeli occupation
that began in 1967,
Deploring the non-cooperation by Israel with all Human Rights Council fact-finding
missions and the independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict, and its
refusal to grant access to and cooperate with international human rights bodies and a
number of United Nations special procedures seeking to investigate alleged violations of
international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,
Regretting the lack of implementation of the recommendations contained in the
reports of the independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict, the United
Nations independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of
Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the
Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,
and the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which follows a pattern
of lack of implementation of recommendations made by United Nations mechanisms and
bodies,
Alarmed that long-standing systemic impunity for international law violations has
allowed for the recurrence of grave violations without consequence, and stressing the need
to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and
international human rights law in order to end impunity, ensure justice, deter further
violations, protect civilians and promote peace,
Regretting the lack of progress in the conduct of domestic investigations in
accordance with international law standards, and aware of the existence of numerous legal,
procedural and practical obstacles in the Israeli civil and criminal legal system contributing
to the denial of the right of Palestinian victims to effective judicial remedy,
Emphasizing the need for States to investigate grave breaches of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949, to end impunity, to uphold their obligations to ensure respect, and to
promote international accountability,
Noting the accession by Palestine on 2 January 2015 to the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court,
2
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents