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Sunday November 17, 2024

Pakistan welcomes UNHRC resolution on Israel’s human rights violations in Gaza

"Pakistan stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people," says the Foreign Office

By Web Desk
May 28, 2021
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. File photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday welcomed the adoption of the resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in response to grave violations of international law and human rights by Israel.

"Pakistan stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and shares the international community’s expectation for effective implementation of this resolution to ensure respect for international law as well as for rights and dignity of the people of Palestine," the Foreign Office said.

The FO further said that the UNHRC special session and its decision to establish a standing international commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations represent global resolve to end systemic impunity and injustice and begin a process of meaningful accountability.

On Thursday, the UNHRC decided to create an open-ended international investigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, and into "systematic" abuses in the Palestinian territories and inside Israel.

The resolution, which passed with 24 of the council’s 47 members in favour, will spur an unprecedented level of scrutiny on abuses and their "root causes" in the decades-long Middle East conflict.

The text, which was presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, was debated during a special one-day council session focused on the surge in deadly violence this month.

Opening the session, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet voiced particular concern about the "high level of civilian fatalities and injuries" from the attacks on Gaza, and warned the Israeli attacks on the enclave "may constitute war crimes".

The Palestinian foreign ministry saluted a move it said "reflects the determination of the international community to move forward in the path of accountability, law enforcement, and protection of Palestinian human rights."

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a tweet also acknowledged in this regard the untiring efforts of Ambassador Munir Akram at the United Nations and Pakistan's ambassador in Geneva Ambassador Khalil Hashmi for leaving no stone unturned in their diplomacy for the just cause of Palestine.