The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) today announced the three names who will comprise the team to investigate Israel’s recent raid on the Gaza flotilla. The UN announcement stated that the fact-finding team will comprise three independent experts, namely Sir Desmond de Silva (Britain), Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) and Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia).
Israel has already set up two inquiry panels to investigate the raid. One inquiry is an internal IDF investigation into the raid, headed by General (retired) Giora Eiland. This panel has completed the bulk of its work. The second panel is a government inquiry into the incident headed by retired supreme court Justice Jacob Turkel. This panel includes two international experts in the form of David Trimble, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Northern Ireland First Minister, and Ken Watkin, former head of the Canadian military judiciary. It was hoped by Israel that appointing a panel of inquiry including international names would convince the international community that an international inquiry would not be necessary.
It is well understood that the UNHCR is not well disposed towards Israel and has issued numerous anti-Israel resolutions. In fact, more resolutions have been issued against Israel than against any other country since the UNHCR came into existence in 2006. The recent Goldstone Commission into the Gaza War created an international outcry against the UNHCR, and against Justice Richard Goldstone who headed up the commission of inquiry.
Sir Desmond de Silva is a well-known barrister in the UK. He was the chief prosecutor in the Special Court for Sierra Leone following the genocide there. He brought about the arrest of Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia, who is currently on trial at The Hague. Karl Hudson-Phillips is a former member of parliament and attorney general in Trinidad and Tobago, and a former judge of the International Criminal Court. Dairiam has been active in gender equality issues, including serving on the gender equality taskforce of the UN Development Program.
The fact-finding team’s results are due to be presented to the UNHCR in September. The UNHCR previously criticised Israel’s “outrageous attack on aid ships attempting to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip” during an emergency session in June. This has clearly set the tone for the fact-finding inquiry.
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