UN Commission of Inquiry Report on on Gaza

Syllabus: GS2/ International Relations

Context

•  A United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) commission of inquiry says, Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza.

About the UN Commission of Inquiry?

• It is the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
• It was established by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in May 2021. It is mandated to submit annual reports.

What is Genocide?

• The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944.
  • It was first recognised as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly. 
• It was codified as an independent crime in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention).
  • The Convention has been ratified by 153 States (as of April 2022).
  • India signed the Convention in 1949 and ratified in 1959.
• According to the Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
  • Killing members of the group;
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
• According to the Convention the crime of genocide may take place in the context of an armed conflict, international or non-international, but also in the context of a peaceful situation.
• Genocide is defined in the same terms in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 6).

What are Crimes Against Humanity?

• Under Article 7 of the Rome Statute, crimes against humanity are specific acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, with knowledge of that attack.
• It lists a range of acts that may constitute crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of populations, unlawful imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution of identifiable groups on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender grounds etc.

What are War Crimes?

• Article 8 of the Rome Statute defines war crimes as serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during an armed conflict.
  • The Court exercises jurisdiction particularly where such crimes are committed as part of a plan or policy or on a large scale.
• War crimes include grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, such as wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury, unlawful destruction or seizure of property, compelling prisoners of war to serve hostile forces, denying prisoners a fair trial, unlawful deportation or confinement, and taking hostages.
• The statute also criminalises a broader range of serious violations of the laws and customs of war.

Legal Significance of the Report

• A UN Commission cannot impose criminal liability or sanctions. However, its findings may serve as documentary evidence before international courts such as:
  • International Court of Justice (ICJ), which adjudicates disputes between States.
  • International Criminal Court (ICC), which prosecutes individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression.
• For instance, in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the court has said that Palestinians in Gaza have plausible rights under the UN Genocide Convention that require protection.

Source: UN, TH, IE