A/HRC/37/42 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/30, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on the implementation of that resolution, with a particular focus on the factors perpetuating the arbitrary detention of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails, in consultation with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The High Commissioner also examines the practice of arbitrary detention by the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza. The report is aimed at providing an accurate picture of the various forms of arbitrary deprivation of liberty to which Palestinians are exposed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In his recommendations, the High Commissioner encourages all duty bearers to comply with related obligations under international law. 2. The report covers the period from 1 November 2016 to 31 October 2017. It is mainly based on cases monitored by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as on information obtained by other United Nations entities operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and by Israeli and Palestinian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). As per Human Rights Council resolution 34/30, the report was prepared in consultation with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. 3. While the present report focuses on arbitrary detention, other reports of the Secretary-General and of the High Commissioner provide a more comprehensive analysis of the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including as regards conditions of detention.1 II. Legal background 4. International humanitarian law and international human rights law apply in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, namely in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Occupied Palestinian Territory is a territory under belligerent occupation, to which the provisions governing occupation notably apply. 2 The jurisdiction and effective control exercised by Israel as the occupying Power are the basis for its human rights obligations within the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Those obligations are in line with the obligation of Israel, under the law of occupation, to protect the Palestinian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Concurrently, the State of Palestine is bound by its human rights obligations regarding the entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The authorities in Gaza also bear human rights obligations given their exercise of governmentlike functions and territorial control.3 5. Arbitrary detention is prohibited by international human rights law and humanitarian law. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to liberty and security of person and provides that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. 4 Considered as arbitrary are deprivations of liberty that are contrary to international law provisions, mostly those relating to the right to a fair trial or other procedural guarantees, 5 as also provided by the law of occupation. 6 Unlawful confinement and wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights to a fair and regular trial 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 See A/HRC/34/38, A/HRC/37/38 and A/HRC/37/43. As provided by the 1907 Hague Regulations, the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention) and customary international law; see A/HRC/34/38, para. 10. See A/HRC/34/38, paras. 3–11, for more details on the applicable legal framework. See also Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 9. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arts. 9 and 14; see also Human Rights Committee general comment No. 35 (2014) on liberty and security of person; and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (A/RES/43/173). Fourth Geneva Convention, arts. 66–75.