M'SIAN RENOWNED JURIST PARAM NAMED MEMBER OF COMMITTEE MONITORING GAZA

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Bernama) -- Renowned jurist and human rights expert
Param Cumaraswamy has been named a member of independent experts mandated by the
United Nations Human Rights Council to monitor Israeli and Palestinian
investigations into violations of international humanitarian and human rights
law reported by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

Another two members are Professor Christian Tomuschat (Chair), Professor
Emeritus at Humboldt University Berlin, and Judge Mary McGowan Davis who has
extensive experience in the fields of international human rights law and
transitional justice.

The announcement was made Monday by the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Navi Pillay.

The UN Fact Finding Mission is led by Justice Richard Goldstone, the
former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former Prosecutor
of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

On April 3, last year, the human rights council president established the
United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, with the mandate to
investigate all violations of international human rights law and international
humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of
the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from Dec
27, 2008 and Jan 18, last year, whether before, during or after.

According to the website of the UN Human Rights, the three-member committee
was established by Human Rights Council resolution 13/9, following up on UN
General Assembly resolutions 64/10 and 64/254, which called for investigations.

The committee is mandated to monitor and assess any domestic, legal or
other proceedings undertaken by both the Government of Israel and the
Palestinian side, including the independence, effectiveness, genuineness of
these investigations and their conformity with international standards.

"These three experts are eminently suited to fulfill the committee's
mandate, and I take this opportunity to call on all relevant parties to fully
cooperate with the committee," said Pillay.

Between 1994 and 2003, Param served as Special Rapporteur of the UN
Commission on Human Rights on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Practicing law in Malaysia, the former Malaysian Bar Association president
is also author of numerous articles on human rights and humanitarian law, among
others.
-- BERNAMA