UN: Israel guilty of war crimes in Lebanon
Reuters Alertnet
A U.N. mission of inquiry on Tuesday accused Israel of committing "flagrant violations" of international human rights law in its month-long war with Hezbollah Islamist fighters in Lebanon.
A team of three legal experts sent to Lebanon by the United Nations' top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, said Israel was guilty of "excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force" in the conflict.
Israel failed to give adequate warning to Lebanese civilians of attacks, had not limited assaults to military targets and had made excessive use of cluster bombs, which take a heavy toll on civilians and their property, they said.
"The commission has formed a clear view that, cumulatively, the deliberate and lethal attacks by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) on civilians and civilian objects amounted to collective punishment," read their report on the Council's Web site
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited." Wikipedia
A U.N. mission of inquiry on Tuesday accused Israel of committing "flagrant violations" of international human rights law in its month-long war with Hezbollah Islamist fighters in Lebanon.
A team of three legal experts sent to Lebanon by the United Nations' top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, said Israel was guilty of "excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force" in the conflict.
Israel failed to give adequate warning to Lebanese civilians of attacks, had not limited assaults to military targets and had made excessive use of cluster bombs, which take a heavy toll on civilians and their property, they said.
"The commission has formed a clear view that, cumulatively, the deliberate and lethal attacks by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) on civilians and civilian objects amounted to collective punishment," read their report on the Council's Web site
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited." Wikipedia
posted by exoplanet at 10:59 PM
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