wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Gaza war crimes: WCC calls for investigation

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 18/11/2009 18:19:41

WCC CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF GAZA WAR CRIMES

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has asked the United Nations secretary- general to make sure that recommendations of a key report about war crimes  committed during the conflict between Israeli and Palestinian armed forces  in Gaza at the beginning of 2009 are properly followed up.

In an 18 November letter, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia  urged the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to take steps in order to press  both Israel and Hamas to "unconditionally concede the need for complete  and credible investigations into their actions during the war".

In his letter, Kobia cited "growing anxiety" amongst members of the  international community that at the UN Security Council "there could be a  resolution that dilutes the intent and scope of the Goldstone report".

The "Goldstone report", produced by a UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza  conflict led by Justice Richard Goldstone and released in September 2009  found evidence of both parties committing actions which amount to war  crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, during the three-week long  armed conflict.

The report recommended that the UN Security Council require Israel and  relevant Gaza authorities to report to it, within six months, on investigat ions and prosecutions both parties should carry out with regard to the  violations identified in the report. If independent proceedings were not  carried out in good faith, the Security Council should refer the situation  in Gaza to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

"If the recommendations of the Goldstone report were pursued, it would  send a strong message to combatants in all conflicts that nations or  groups cannot act with impunity, and that there must be appropriate  channels of accountability for the perpetrators of crimes in any form of  conflict", Kobia pointed out in his letter to Ban.

"During the Gaza War, civilians on both sides suffered and yet atrocities  were significantly higher among the Palestinian population", Kobia stated.  "The people of Gaza have suffered enough, and they deserve a respite in  the knowledge that the perpetrators of indiscriminate violence against  them will be brought to book."

As "durable peace, reconciliation and healing between Palestinians and  Israelis should be based on justice", Kobia added, "the need of the hour  is an unequivocal affirmation of the highest principles of justice, human  rights and humanitarian practices".

Full text of the letter from the WCC general secretary to the UN secretary- general
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7364

United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFinding Mission.htm

WCC solidarity with churches in the Middle East:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3113

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.