accountability. Instead it persists in calling upon the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the last resolution. Furthermore, the resolution prolongs the accountability process by extending the three-month recommended deadline for the responsible parties to carry out domestic investigations in compliance with international standards, to an additional five months.
Nevertheless, the follow-up Resolution is a second opportunity for the responsible parties to ensure that the perpetrators of international crimes during ‘Operation Cast Lead’ are held to account. The implementation of the follow-up resolution is crucial to the effort to end impunity in the OPT, to afford Palestinian victims their rights and to deter future violations of international law. Whilst the responsible parties have to date failed to carry out the required domestic investigations, Al-Haq continues to urge the parties to comply with their legal obligations to pursue accountability.
In Al-Haq’s Analysis on the follow-up Resolution, Al-Haq calls upon the following,
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that Israel, as the Occupying Power, complies with its obligations as set out in the follow-up Resolution,
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that the Palestinian side complies with its obligations as set out in the follow-up Resolution,
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that the Palestinian side forms one investigatory body,
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that the Government of Switzerland immediately reconvenes the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention for the purposes of ensuring the effective enforcement of the laws of war,
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that the Secretary-General evaluates the implementation by the responsible parties of the follow-up Resolution, and
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that the international community ensure that accountability is achieved as promptly as possible.