28/79 Report of the independent international commission of inquiry established pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-21/1 - Note by the Secretariat

GE.15-06465 (E)

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Human Rights Council Twenty-eighth session

Agenda item 7

Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories

Report of the independent international commission of inquiry established pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-21/1*

Note by the Secretariat

1. In its resolution S-21/1, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an

independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of

international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied

Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in

the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014, whether before, during

or after, to establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes

perpetrated and to identify those responsible, to make recommendations, in particular on

accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring that

those responsible are held accountable, and on ways and means to protect civilians against

any further assaults, and to report to the Council at its twenty-eighth session.

2. On 9 March 2015, the Chairperson of the commission of inquiry addressed a letter

to the President of the Human Rights Council in which she invited the Council to consider

postponing the submission and presentation of the above-mentioned report until June 2015.

The request for additional time to prepare the report was based on the commission’s need to

adjust its work owing to the late resignation of its former chairperson and to analyse with

the utmost objectivity the large number of additional submissions and documents received

from both sides in previous weeks, relating to the fact-finding dimension of its mandate.

3. At its 32nd meeting, held on 16 March 2015, the Human Rights Council decided by

consensus that the commission of inquiry should present a short oral update to the Council

on 23 March 2015, at its twenty-eighth session, and that the Council would consider the

report of the commission at its twenty-ninth session.

* Late submission.