Key Issue:UNHRC Inquiry Into 2014 Gaza Conflict
On June 22, 2015 the United Nations Human Rights Council published the report of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the 2014 Gaza War. Initially, the inquiry was headed by William Schabas and then taken over by Mary McGowan Davis after the former’s resignation over his undisclosed paid work for the PLO.
The report relies heavily on unreliable political advocacy non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that lack credibility and do not employ professional fact-finding standards. NGO Monitor’s review shows that NGOs were referenced, cited, and quoted at a high volume: B’Tselem was the most referenced NGO with 69 citations, followed by Amnesty International (53), Palestinian Center for Human Rights (50), and Al Mezan (29), and others. UNWRA and UN-OCHA were also featured throughout the report.
As with the discredited 2009 Goldstone process, already in the midst of the fighting NGOs began initiating calls for a UN “fact-finding” investigation of the conflict and submitted statements to the UN that alleged “deliberate, systematic, and widespread targeting of Palestinian civilians”; “collective punishment”; “war crimes and crimes against humanity”; “grave violations of international humanitarian law,” etc.