Human rights in occupied Syrian Arab territory.

1989/1. Human Rights in occupied Syrian Arab territory

The Commission on Human Rights, Guided by the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Gravely concerned at the fact that Syrian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel in 1967 are still suffering from Israeli military occupation, aggression and continued violation of human rights, Recalling Israel's violation of Article 25 of the Charter of the United Nations and its refusal to accept and implement the relevant resolutions of the Security Council, in particular resolution 497 (1981) of 17 December 1981, in which the Council, inter alia, decided that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan was null and void and without international legal effect, and demanded that Israel should rescind forthwith its decision, Recalling the resolution adopted by the 80th Inter-Parliamentary Conference, held in Sofia from 19 to 24 September 1988, which strongly reproved and denounced the flagrant daily violations by Israel of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Protocols additional thereto, and called on Israel to withdraw its forces from all Arab territories and to end its occupation of those territories, Taking note with deep concern of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories (A/43/694), Noting with severe disapproval, after having considered the above report, that Israel continues its flagrant violations of human rights in the Syrian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, despite the resolutions on the occupied Arab territories adopted by the Commission, the Security Council, the General Assembly and other United Nations organs and specialized agencies, condemning Israel for its continued occupation of the Syrian and other Arab territories and calling upon Israel to put an end to its occupation and to implement the above-mentioned resolutions, Affirming its resolution 1988/2 of 15 February 1988, Recalling World Health Assembly resolution WHA41.8 of 11 May 1988, by which the Assembly affirmed "the principle that acquisition of territories by force is inadmissible and that any occupation of territories by force and the practice of repression and violence against the civilian population as well as acts of deportation and expulsion have serious repercussions on the health and psychosocial conditions of the people under occupation, including mental and physical health", Recalling General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, in which the Assembly defined an act of aggression, inter alia, as "the invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State, or part thereof" and provided that "no consideration of whatever nature, whether political, economic, military or otherwise, may serve as a justification for aggression", Recalling General Assembly resolution 3414 (XXX) of 5 December 1975 and other relevant General Assembly resolutions, the latest of which are resolutions 43/54 A to C of 6 December 1988, in which the Assembly inter alia, demanded the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Israel from all the territories occupied since 1967, Recalling in particular General Assembly resolutions 36/226 B of 17 December 1981 and ES-9/1 of 5 February 1982, as well as other relevant resolutions, the latest of which is resolution 43/58 F of 6 December 1988, relating to the population of the Syrian Arab territory that has been occupied since 1967, Reaffirming that all the relevant provisions of the Regulations annexed to The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, apply to the Syrian and other Arab territories, including Jerusalem, that have been occupied by Israel since 1967, and calling upon the parties to those conventions to respect their obligations and to make every effort to ensure respect for and compliance with the provisions of those instruments in all circumstances, Reaffirming the resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and other bodies which state that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible under the principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and relevant resolutions, Noting that Israel's record, policies and actions and its continued violations of human rights establish conclusively that it is not a peace-loving Member State and that it has not fulfilled its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations,

1. Strongly Condemns Israel for its persistent disregard for, and defiance of, the provisions of Security Council resolution 497 (1981) and all other resolutions relating to occupied Syrian Arab territory adopted by the General Assembly and other United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, and strongly deprecates Israel's failure to implement the provisions of those resolutions by ending its occupation and ceasing its repressive measures and violations of human rights;

2. Deplores Israel's continued refusal to allow the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories to visit the occupied Arab territories and to implement General Assembly resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968, and demands that Israel allow the Special Committee access to the occupied territories;

3. Declares once more that the continued Israeli occupation of the Syrian Arab Golan and its decision of 14 December 1981 to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, which has resulted in the effective annexation of this territory, constitute an act of aggression under the provisions of Article 39 of the Charter of the United Nations and General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX), and that the decision of 14 December 1981 to apply Israeli laws to the occupied Golan is null and void, has no international legal validity or effect, constitutes a grave violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations and is in defiance of the international community;

4. Condemns Israel's persistence in changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan;

5. Deplores the inhuman treatment, terror and practices contrary to human rights which the Israeli occupation authorities continue to apply against Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan by reason of their refusal of Israeli citizenship and in order to force them to carry Israeli identity cards, which practices constitute a flagrant violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and the relevant resolutions adopted by the Security Council, the General Assembly and other international bodies and also constitute a threat to international peace and security;

6. Reaffirms its request to all States Members of the United Nations not to recognize any jurisdiction, laws or measures established by Israel in respect of occupied Syrian and other Arab territories, and calls upon the specialized agencies and other international organizations to comply in their relations with Israel with the provisions of the present resolution;

7. Calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to rescind forthwith its decision of 14 December 1981 and to cease its acts of terrorism directed against Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan in order to impose Israeli citizenship upon them and force them to carry Israeli identity cards and condemns the Israeli repression of educational institutions in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan and the imposition of curricula that promote hatred, prejudice and religious intolerance;

8. Condemns Israel for persisting in its policies and practices of annexation in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, inter alia, expropriating land, establishing settlements thereon and moving Israeli settlers into them, diverting water to those settlements, thus depriving the Golan population of its sources of livelihood, and in particular imposing a boycott on agricultural products, depriving that population of the right to export them;

9. Calls upon all States to urge Israel, the occupying Power, to cease such practices, including boycott measures, and to facilitate the marketing of the agricultural produce of the Golan population;

10. Emphasizes that Israel must allow the evacuees from among the Golan population to return to their homes and to recover their property and places of residence occupied by Israel since 1967, and firmly emphasizes the overriding necessity of the total and unconditional withdrawal by Israel from all Syrian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, which is an essential prerequisite for the establishment of a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East;

11. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Special Committee with all the necessary financial facilities, including those required for its visits to the occupied territories and to the Arab countries concerned, so that it can investigate the Israeli policies and practices referred to in the present resolution;

12. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all Governments, the competent United Nations organs, the specialized agencies, the regional intergovernmental organizations and the international humanitarian organizations and to give it the widest possible publicity, and to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-sixth session;

13. Decides to place on the provisional agenda of its forty-sixth session, as a matter of high priority, the item entitled "Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine".

27th meeting
17 February 1989
[Adopted by a roll-call vote of 31 to 1, with
10 abstentions. See chap. IV.]