A/HRC/RES/16/31
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
13 April 2011
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Sixteenth session
Agenda item 7
Human rights situation in Palestine and other
occupied Arab territories
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council*
16/31
Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and affirming the
inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,
Reaffirming that all States have an obligation to promote and protect human rights
and fundamental freedoms, as stated in the Charter and elaborated in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other
applicable instruments,
Recalling relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights, the Human
Rights Council, the Security Council and the General Assembly, reaffirming, inter alia, the
illegality of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including in East Jerusalem,
Mindful that Israel is a party to the fourth Geneva Convention relative to the
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, which is applicable de
jure to Palestinian and all Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including East
Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan, and recalling the declaration adopted by the Conference of
High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, held in Geneva on 5 December
2001,
Considering that the transfer by the occupying Power of parts of its own civilian
population to the territory it occupies constitutes a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention
and relevant provisions of customary law, including those codified in Additional Protocol I
to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949,
* The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of
the Council on its sixteenth session (A/HRC/16/2), chap. I.
GE.11-12859