Resignation of Human Rights Chairman

           Leader of War Crimes Inquiry into 2014 Gaza Conflict Resigns 

 Monday February 2, 2015 William Schabas, a Human Rights chairman of the United Nations resigned after Israel accused him of a “blatant conflict of interest”. Schabas was investigating possible war crimes within Gaza during the 50 day war in the summer of 2014. When accepting the job Shabas pleadged to leave his personal view at the door however once he was accused of being biased he decided to resign. A formal complaint was filed in January with the president of Human Rights Council with evidence of work Shabas had done for the Palestine Liberation Organization. He stated that this was only a tiny part of his academic work. When news of Shabas resignation hit Israel, it was highly welcomed.  Before Shabas officially resigned there was talk of whether he should be removed or not. He decided to go ahead and resign because “The Commission of Inquiry was at a decisive stage in its work” and he did not want to make it more difficult by having the question of whether he should be removed or not over their heads.

                  Human rights have always seemed to be an issue when it comes to the Palestinian Israeli conflict. Both sides are criticized for what happened to the Palestinians in Gaza during the 50 day war last summer. Human Rights is a problem all around the world and when ones job is to investigate the lives and rights of people, personal biases need to stay out of the job in order for the reports to be true and accepted.  Shabas says he resigned so that he wouldn’t be a distraction to the rest of the investigation and process but I wondering if it was also to stop the talk  going on about him.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/world/middleeast/leader-of-war-crimes-inquiry-into-14-gaza-conflict-resigns.html