Palestine as a Matter of International Community Concern: John Dugard’s Work as Special Rapporteur

Abstract

This article reviews Professor John Dugard’s contribution as Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, aiming to show how a sound international law analysis is essential for an understanding of the problem of Palestine and for countering efforts to shift perceptions from one of occupation in which the occupying power has legal and moral constraints to one of a state of belligerency in the context of a ‘war on terror’. John Dugard’s constantly reiterated position that Palestine is a matter of concern for the international community as a whole then leads to an examination of the international status of Palestine and to the responsibility of the United Nations, as well as that of all states, flowing from the erga omnes obligations and peremptory norms involved. This is done in light of the International Court of Justice’s quasi-unanimous Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory handed down in 2004 in which the Court has demonstrated how the political aspects of the Palestinian problem are tightly intertwined with its legal dimension.