LONDON (UK): Leading Pakistani human rights activist Ms Hina Jilani, who was a member of UN Fact Finding mission on 2008-09 Gaza Conflict, has insisted that Judge Goldstone report stands unchanged despite Israeli calls to revisit the report that accused the Jewish State of possible war crimes.
“Absolutely not; no process or acceptable procedure would invalidate the UN Report; if it does happen, it would be seen as a ‘suspect move,” she told Middle East Monitor. In what has been the first statement after the op-ed article by Judge Richard Goldstone by a member of the UN Fact Finding mission on the Gaza conflict, Ms Jilani affirmed nothing would change the substance of the original report submitted to the United Nations (UN).
The internationally recognized human rights lawyer dismissed claims that the op-ed article by Judge Richard Goldstone in the Washington Post would make any difference to the report. She said, “Ultimately, the UN Report would not have been any different to what it was”.
Ms Jilani served as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders from 2000 to 2008.She was also appointed to the UN International Fact-Finding Commission on Darfur, Sudan in 2006. She denied Goldstone’s op-ed article expresses any actual regret.
Looking ahead, she insisted the Report “is and remains an important report.” She added that the UN Security Council now needs to investigate further to see how both parties – Israel and Hamas – have violated international law: “The UN cannot allow impunity to remain,” she stressed, “and will have to act if it wants to remain a credible international governing body.”
Although the fact finding report is often referred to as the ‘Goldstone Report’, the mission was actually comprised of four members. In addition Goldstone and Jilani, other members were Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Desmond Travers, a former colonel in the Irish Defence Forces and member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations.