UNHRC adopts two resolutions on Palestinian rights, Israel settlements

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted two resolutions on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the illegality of the Israeli settlements established in 1967 in the Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.

In its 52nd session convened in Geneva and under agenda item 7, the UNHRC adopted by an overwhelming majority a draft resolution on the inalienable, permanent right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including their right to live in freedom, justice and dignity and the right to their independent, the ministry said.

Forty-one UNHRC member states voted in favour of the resolution, while Cameroon, Lithuania and Romania abstained, and Czech Republic, the United States and the United Kingdom voted against it.

The UNHRC also adopted by an overwhelming majority a draft resolution on the Israeli colonial settlements established since 1967 in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Thirty-eight UNHRC members voted in favour of the resolution, with Cameroon, Georgia, Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine abstaining and four others; Czech Republic, Malawi, the US and UK, voting against.

The Palestinian ministry described the vote as a message to the  “fascist” Israeli government that its crimes will not go unpunished and that the Palestinian people will exercise their inalienable rights, notably the right to self-determination free of colonial settlements.

“The adoption of Palestine’s resolutions comes at a time when the Israeli government’s plans must be confronted and deterred,” it added.

The two resolutions are voted on periodically in the Human Rights Council.

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