India on Thursday abstained from voting on the United Nations Human Rights Council‘s resolution to open an international investigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, and the “systematic” abuses in Palestinian territories and Israel.
Besides India, 13 other members, including France, Italy, Nepal and Japan, abstained.
The resolution was nevertheless passed with 24 of the council’s 47 members voting in favour of the probe.
This is the council’s first-ever open-ended commission of inquiry (COI), the highest-level investigation that can be ordered by the council.
Countries that voted in favour include Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico and Sudan, while Germany, UK and Austria were among those who voted against it.
The independent investigation will have a broad mandate to look into all alleged violations, not just in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also in Israel during hostilities that were halted by a ceasefire on May 21.
Opening the session, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet voiced particular concern about the “high level of civilian fatalities and injuries” from the assaults on Gaza, and warned the Israeli assaults on the enclave “could represent struggle crimes”.
She also said Hamas’s “indiscriminate” firing of rockets at Israel was “a transparent violation of worldwide humanitarian legislation”.
Israel rejected the resolution adopted by the Geneva forum and said it would not cooperate. “Today’s shameful decision is yet another example of the UN Human Rights Council’s blatant anti-Israel obsession,” Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an announcement accusing the discussion board of whitewashing “a genocidal terrorist organisation”.
The Palestinian foreign ministry saluted a move saying it “reflects the determination of the international community to move forward in the path of accountability, law enforcement, and protection of Palestinian human rights.”
The investigators, the textual content stated, ought to probe “underlying root causes of recurrent tensions and instability, together with systematic discrimination and repression based mostly on group identification”.
The investigation should focus on establishing facts and gather evidence for legal proceedings, and should aim to identify perpetrators to ensure they are held accountable, it said.
It also urges countries to “refrain from transferring arms when they assess… that there is a clear risk that such arms might be used in the commission or facilitation of serious violations or abuses.”
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