Support Amnesty International’s call on the UK government…

…to spare no efforts to ensure war criminals do not get away with murder

Send an email to Foreign Secretary David Miliband NOW! (see model email below). We have only three days to influence the government’s decision on the Goldstone report.

The UN-mandated International Independent Fact Finding Mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, has published its findings on the 22-day conflict in Gaza and southern Israel in December 2008-January 2009.

The carefully argued report, which is consistent with the findings of Amnesty International, concludes that both the Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups committed grave violations of international law including war crimes and, possibly, crimes against humanity.

Background information

The President of the Human Rights Council, which mandated the UN Mission, made it unequivocally clear that it was “to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law” during the conflict.  In carrying out that broad mandate, Justice Goldstone  went to great lengths to ensure that both the Israeli and Palestinian sides were heard, despite Israel’s refusal to cooperate, and that alleged violations of international law by both sides are comprehensively addressed in his report.  The UK government is reviewing this major report, and for the sake of justice and accountability, we are calling on them to welcome the report and support its recommendations.

It is of crucial importance that the report’s pertinent recommendations to UN bodies to establish accountability for these grave crimes are acted upon. Amnesty International is convinced that ending prolonged impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by the Israeli and the Palestinian side is essential: not only for human rights and justice, but also if long term peace and security is to be achieved in the Middle East. As a member of the Human Rights Council, we seek the UK Governments support to make that happen by ensuring that Justice Goldstone’s recommendations are acted upon.  Simply put, they offer the best hope for justice and accountability in the Middle East conflict.

Despite powerful evidence of war crimes and other serious violations of international law which emerged during and in the aftermath of the conflict – including that gathered and published by Amnesty International and now detailed in the UN Fact Finding report – both Israel and Hamas have to date failed to carry out credible investigations and to prosecute those responsible. The UN report also reaches this conclusion but argues that the Israeli and the Palestinian side must be given a last chance to ensure justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators. As a last resort, the report recommends, the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) if no credible investigations have been conducted by both the Israeli government and the authorities in Gaza within a set time period. State Parties to the Geneva Conventions are urged to exercise universal jurisdiction where there is sufficient evidence that grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions have been committed. Amnesty International fully supports these recommendations.

Read Amnesty’s press release on the Goldstone report

Here is the text of the email proposed by AI website. You can send it by simply filling in your personal details on the AI website – or modify the email to suit your emphases and concerns.

Model email
As you are aware, the UN-mandated International Independent Fact Finding Mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, has published its findings on the 22-day conflict in Gaza and southern Israel in December 2008-January 2009. The carefully argued report, which is consistent with the findings of Amnesty International, concludes that both the Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups committed grave violations of international law including war crimes and, possibly, crimes against humanity.

We appreciate that your government is reviewing this major report, and hope that you will welcome the report and support its recommendations. Amnesty International is convinced that ending prolonged impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by the Israeli and the Palestinian side is essential: not only for human rights and justice, but also if long term peace and security is to be achieved in the Middle East. As a member of the Human Rights Council, we seek the UK Governments support to make that happen by ensuring that Justice Goldstone’s recommendations are acted upon.  Simply put, they offer the best hope for justice and accountability in the Middle East conflict.

I urge the UK government to spare no efforts to ensure that effective action is taken to address accountability and undertake the following:

* Support all recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission addressed to the UN  Human Rights Council, including that the Council endorses all recommendations in the UN Mission’s report, requests the UN Secretary-General to convey the Fact-Finding Mission’s report to the UN Security Council as soon as possible and submits the report to the General Assembly and the Prosecutor of the ICC;

*  Support all recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission addressed to the Security Council including: that the Security Council requires Israel to launch “investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards, into the serious violations of International Humanitarian and International Human Rights Law reported by the Mission and any other serious allegations that might come to its attention… and prosecute such violations” ; that the authorities in Gaza undertake domestic proceedings to that effect; that the Security Council establishes a committee of experts to monitor and report to the Security Council on any such domestic proceedings instituted by the parties concerned; and that the Security Council refers the situation in Gaza  to the Prosecutor of the ICC for investigation and prosecution if it finds that the Israeli or the Palestinian side have failed to carry out, within a set period of time, good faith investigations that meet international standards into the above violations.

* To ensure that the General Assembly requests the Security Council to report to the Assembly on the measures taken by Israel and the authorities in Gaza to establish accountability for the above violations in relation to those outlined in the report and “ any other relevant facts in the context of the military operations in Gaza” ; and that the General Assembly establishes a fund to be used to provide full reparations to victims on both sides who suffered loss or damage as a result of unlawful acts;

* Ensure universal jurisdiction over conduct amounting to war crimes or crimes against humanity, as part of the shared responsibility of the international community to investigate and prosecute such crimes, to open criminal investigations in UK courts and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence of the commission of such crimes in Gaza or Israel, to prosecute the suspects.

I greatly appreciate your consideration of these concerns.

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