Human rights in the occupied Syrian Arab territory.

1991/2. Human rights in the occupied Syrian Arab territory

The Commission on Human Rights, Deeply concerned by the suffering of the population of the Syrian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967 and by continued Israeli military occupation and that the human rights of the population continue to be violated, Recalling Security Council 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 General Assembly resolutions 36/226 B of 17 December 1981, ES-9/1 of 5 February 1982, 37/88 E of 10 December 1982, 38/79 F of 15 December 1983, 39/95 F of 14 December 1984, 40/161 F of 16 December 1985, 41/63 F of 3 December 1986, 42/160 F of 8 December 1987, 43/21 of 3 November 1988, 43/58 F of 6 December 1988, 44/2 of 6 October 1989, and 45/74 F of 11 December 1990, Recalling General Assembly resolution 3414 (XXX) of 5 December 1975 and other relevant resolutions in which the Assembly, inter alia, demanded the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Israel from all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, Recalling General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, in which it defined an act of aggression, Reaffirming once more the illegality of Israel's 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 that territory, Reaffirming that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, under the principles of international law and under the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, and that all territories thus occupied by Israel must be returned, Taking note with deep concern of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (A/45/576) and in this connection deploring Israel's constant refusal to cooperate with and to receive the Committee, Expressing its grave alarm, after considering the above-mentioned report of the Committee, over Israel's flagrant and persistent violations of human rights in the Syrian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, despite the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council which repeatedly called upon Israel to put an end to such occupation, Reaffirming its previous relevant resolutions, the most recent of which being resolution 1990/3 of 16 February 1990, Guided by the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with particular reference to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and relevant provisions of The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907,

1. Strongly condemns Israel, the occupying Power, for its refusal to comply with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, particularly resolution 497 (1981), in which the Council, inter alia, decided that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Arab Golan was null and void and without international legal effect, and demanded that Israel, the occupying Power, should rescind forthwith its decision;

2. Condemns the persistence of Israel in changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan and emphasizes that-the displaced persons of the population of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan must be allowed to return to their homes and to recover their properties;

3. Determines that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken or to be taken by Israel, the occupying Power, that purport to alter the character and legal status of the Syrian Arab Golan are null and void, constitute a flagrant violation of international law and of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and have no legal effect;

4. Strongly condemns Israel for its attempt to impose forcibly Israeli citizenship and Israeli identity cards on the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan and for its practices of annexation, establishment of settlements, confiscation of lands and diversion of water resources, and imposing a boycott on their agricultural products; and calls upon Israel to desist from its settlement designs and policies aimed against academic institutions with the goal of distorting the historic facts and serving the objectives of occupation, and to desist from its repressive measures against the population of the Syrian Arab Golan;

5. Calls once again upon Member States not to recognize any of the legislative or administrative measures and actions referred to above;

6. 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 international humanitarian organizations and to give it the widest possible publicity, and to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-eighth session;

7. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-eighth session, as a matter of high priority, the item "Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine".

28th meeting
15 February 1991
[Adopted by 32 votes to 1, with
8 abstentions. See chap. IV.]