Israel, Hezbollah both break human rights law: UN experts

Both Israel and Hezbollah committed serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the July 12-Aug. 14 conflict, four UN human rights experts said on Wednesday.

Available information strongly indicates that in many instances, Israel violated its legal obligations to distinguish between military and civilian targets, the experts said in a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council.

Israel also failed to apply the principle of proportionality and did not take all feasible precautions to minimize injury and damage to civilians, they said.

According to the investigators, Hezbollah guerrillas also violated the applicable principles of humanitarian law, in some cases by targeting the civilian population in northern Israel and in others by disregarding the principle of distinction.

Violations by both sides, especially Israel, led to many deaths and injuries, displaced enormous numbers of persons, resulted in the large-scale destruction of homes and infrastructure, and severely interrupted health-related services, they said in the 40-page report.

The four experts are Philip Alston, the investigator into arbitrary executions; Paul Hunt, the investigator into the right to health; Walter Kaelin, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's representative on displaced people; and Miloon Kothari, the rapporteur on housing.

They made a fact-finding mission to Israel and Lebanon in September.

In their report, they also urged Israel to give full details of its use of cluster munitions to speed the destruction of unexploded ordnance and minimize further civilian casualties.

Information provided so far was "inadequate and largely unhelpful," it said.

They also urged Hezbollah to publicly affirm that it is bound by international law and renounce the targeting of civilians in all circumstances.

According to the experts, besides addressing the conduct of Israel in the conflict, the Human Rights Council should also ensure that Hezbollah's attacks are thoroughly investigated.

Source: Xinhua