UN to investigate alleged human rights violations

Four UN experts will visit Israel and Lebanon to investigate alleged human rights violations committed during the Israel-Hezbollah war, the United Nations said today.

The rights experts will conduct their fact-finding mission from September 7 to 13 and will meet with government officials and independent groups in both countries.

The four – Walter Kaelin, expert on displaced people; Philip Alston, extrajudicial executions; Paul Hunt, physical and mental health; and Miloon Kothari, housing – will then report their findings at a session of the UN Human Rights Council later this month.

“The independent human rights experts will gather firsthand information, establish facts and conduct an impartial legal analysis of the persistent allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law during the recent conflict in order to make specific recommendations to the concerned authorities,” the UN human rights office in Geneva said in a statement.

The experts are appointed by the UN and report to the council, the global body’s top rights watchdog, but their missions are conducted independently and their views don’t necessarily represent the United Nations’ views.