The Commission on Human Rights yesterday afternoon adopted overwhelmingly an Egyptian resolution asking the Secretary General to submit to next fall’s General Assembly a note containing “United Nations resolutions concerning the declaration of grave breaches of the Geneva convention as ‘war crimes,'” and relevant statements by UN units and the International Red Cross. The Commission noted in a preamble that certain acts by Israel in the administered Arab territories “constitute war crimes and an affront to humanity.” The vote was 13-1, with 15 abstentions, with the United States the only dissenter.
The Commission also passed a Belorussian resolution calling on those nations that have not done so to submit their comments and proposals for “the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” and calling on the Secretary General to analyze and report on the replies. The vote on this measure was 26-0, with three abstentions (the US, Britain and Turkey).
As the four-week pre-vote debate concluded, the Soviet and Egyptian representatives sought to link the question of the punishment of war criminals with Israel’s alleged maltreatment of the Arab population in the administered territories.
In the discussion preceding the vote, Amre M. Moussa, the Egyptian representative proposed that the Secretary General submit a note to the General Assembly at its next session in Sept. concerning resolutions on the punishment of war criminals, reports and resolutions on Israeli practices in the administered territories during the past year, and on racial discrimination.
Theo. C. Van Boven, the Netherlands representative, said he found it difficult to link the war criminals question with racial discrimination and with Israeli practices.
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