JURIST - Paper Chase: UN panel decries rights violations in Lebanon conflict

[JURIST] The UN Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights [official website] on Monday denounced [press release] the "massive denial of human rights" in the ongoing conflict in Lebanon and called on the UN Security Council [official website] to work toward a permanent solution in the volatile area. In the statement, the Sub-Commission expressed:

deep grief and outrage at the massive denial of human rights, extend[ed] its sympathies to the victims, and voice[d] the hope that the Security Council, acting in discharge of its primary responsibility, would bring about cessation of the war without further delay, and promote an urgent settlement of the conflict in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council [official website], which replaced the UN Commission on Human Rights, will convene for an emergency session [Reuters report] in the next few weeks to discuss the conflict between Lebanon and Israel [JURIST news archive], according to diplomatic sources. The session was reportedly urged by the Organization of the Islamic Conference [advocacy website], which organized a session earlier this summer that resulted in the Council decrying Israeli military operations [JURIST report] in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and approving a resolution [text, PDF] calling on Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from violence against civilians.

Also Monday, four independent human rights experts were forced to cancel a trip to Lebanon [press release] due to the instability in the area, but asserted the urgency of a visit to assess the situation later in August. The UN News Center has more.