UN names human rights experts to investigate Israel

02 Sep, 2006

The United Nations' top human rights body on Friday announced a three-person team to investigate allegations of violations by Israel during its month-long war in Lebanon.
The Human Rights Council, composed of 47 states, last month called for launching a high-level Commission of Inquiry to investigate what it called "systematic targeting and killing" of Lebanese civilians by Israel.
The resolution, brought by countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, also called for the probe to examine the types of weapons used by Israel, their conformity with international law as well as their impact on property, infrastructure and the environment.
Mexico's Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, who serves as chairman of the UN Human Rights Council, announced the appointment on Friday after holding consultations. He named Clemente Baena Soares, Mohamed Chande Othman and Stelios Perrakis as the commission's three members.
Soares is a former secretary-general of the Organisation of American States, while Othman is a judge on Tanzania's Supreme Court and Perrakis a professor at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece.
The team plans to meet soon in Geneva to discuss how it will proceed, but there was no word yet on when it might travel to the region, UN human rights spokesman Jose Luis Diaz said.

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