New York: The UAE has urged the United Nations to refer the recommendations of the Goldstone Report to the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and the International Criminal Court for the necessary actions to be taken, including more investigations on the war crimes and crime against humanity committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip to ensure that perpetrators of the heinous crimes are brought to justice.
In a UAE address during the 12th meeting of the Sixth Committee of the Sixty-fourth General Assembly, deliberating on the Administration of Justice, which the committee saw the principle of universal law as a safeguard against impunity for major crimes, Nasser Tahnoun Al Naqabi, Member of the UAE delegation to the UN, said at a time when the Geneva Convention had attained 60 years and while the UN Security Council was continuing to work harder to boost international efforts to protect civilians during armed conflicts, the UAE is still worried about the dangerous security, political, legal and humanitarian breeches by Israel in the Arab and Palestinian territories, being occupied by the Jewish entity since 1967, the worse breeches being the war crimes and crime against humanity committed by the Israeli Armed Forces in the Gaza Strip during their December 2008 to January 2009 military aggression, leading to the killing, maiming and incapacitation of thousands of Palestinians and nearly total destruction of vital infrastructure and basic amenities, as well as residential areas and villages in the Gaza Strip.
Al Naqabi expressed his country's total condemnation of these Israeli crimes to which the Goldstone report bears witness. He called for the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza and for the implementation of the recommendations of the report, particularly the portion which calls for the refering of the report to the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the necessary international actions to be taken on the issue, including the conducting of more investigations on the war crimes and crime against humanity committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, identifying those responsible for the crimes and bringing them to justice to uphold the administration of international justice and rule of law.
He said in spite of the great efforts exerted by the UN and other regional organisations in laying down international principles and standards to uphold the administration of justice and rule of law in all parts of the world, the international community, after more than 60 years of its work in this area, continued to witness repeatedly a more complex violence, conflicts and blatant violation of international laws, while the perpetrators go scot free as a result of weakness and lack of the appropriate political will to guarantee the imposition and total respect for international laws and administration of international justice.
He underscored the UAE’s support for international laws and conventions related to bilateral relations and cooperation, the UN 2005 World Summit document and other regional and international multi-lateral agreements related to the rule of law. He called for more concerted efforts to boost international cooperation in the upholding of the rule of law and administration of justice in accordance with the UN Charter and international laws, which, he said, represent the two basic foundations for achieving global peace and security, justice, stability and mutual respect among countries of the world.
