The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Euro-Mediterranean Non-Governmental Platform (EMNGP), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) launch today the report of an international solidarity mission conducted in Lebanon from 11 to 15 August 2006.
This mission met with Lebanese civilian victims as well as numerous Lebanese civil society organizations and representatives of the authorities.
The delegation considers that there are sufficient elements to conclude that flagrant and grave breaches of the fourth Geneva Convention have been committed by the Israeli authorities. According to the mission, such acts are to be qualified as war crimes. Moreover, “the action of the Israeli army against the civilian population is indicative of a will to issue collective punishment.
The delegates and their respective organisations stress that any deliberate attack against a civilian population constitutes a war crime, whoever has committed it.
They call upon the UN Security Council to mandate the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights- or for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to decide on her own motion- to conduct an investigation into war crimes committed by all parties to the conflict. They further call for all perpetrators of war crimes, whoever they are to be prosecuted and sanctioned, and for victims to receive reparation.
They call for support to be given to investigations currently undertaken by the Lebanese civil society in order to gather information about war crimes. They call upon the International Community to provide initially, the necessary humanitarian relief, and then to provide Lebanon with the means for its reconstruction.
Respect of the cease fire by all parties, of the independence of Lebanon and the immediate cessation of the blockade are essential conditions for civilian peace. A further mission of the same nature, is being conducted in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
The English version of this report will be available soon
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