PRESIDENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL NAMES ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU AS HEAD OF FACT-FINDING MISSION TO BEIT HANOUN

The President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Luis Alfonso De Alba, today announced that the High-Level Fact-Finding Mission the Council established following the Israeli military operations in Gaza on 8 November in which at least 18 civilians were killed, will be led by Desmond Mpilo Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.

According to resolution S-3/1 adopted at the Council’s third special session on 15 November, the Fact-Finding Mission is to travel to Beit Hanoun to, among other things, “assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults”. The Fact-Finding Mission is to report on its progress to the Council no later than the middle of December 2006.

A leading figure in the struggle against apartheid, Archbishop Tutu chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission established in 1995.


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