Geneva - UN investigators will travel to the Gaza Strip and
Israel next week to investigate possible human rights abuses in
Israel's recent offensive, a spokesman for the council said Friday.
The former chief prosecutor of the international courts for
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Richard Goldstone, will head the mission.
Late last year, Israeli authorities refused the entry of Richard
Falk, the UN`s expert on human rights in the Palestinian territories.
UN officials hope the new mission, which has a mandate to
look into abuses against Israelis as well, will be better received.
The Goldstone team has received positive signals from Israeli and
Palestinian authorities, UN spokesman Rolando Gomez said.
The wide-reaching mandate of the mission was determined by Martin
Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, a Nigerian diplomat and president of the Human
Rights Council.
This would help the mission 'gain the credibility of all sides and
be truly, truly independent and produce a report that is fair,
balanced and impartial,' said Uhomoibhi early last month when he
announced the make-up of the team.
The mission will include Hina Jilani, a Pakistani jurist and
former envoy of the UN`s secretary general for human rights
defenders.
Desmond Travers, a former colonel with the Irish armed forces, has
been appointed to the team as a military specialist. He commanded UN
peacekeeping forces in the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia.
Christine Chinkin, a professor of international law at the
University of London, will also join the mission. She was a member of
a UN investigation in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, led by Archbishop Desmond
Tutu. Israel rejected that mission.
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