3 August 2010 On 29 July 2010, the UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), issued its Concluding Observations on Israel.
The Concluding Observations addressed many of the issues brought before the Committee by Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in their two joint NGO reports, and in oral interventions provided by Adalah Attorney Orna Kohn and PHR-Israel’s Advocacy Director Amiram Gil during the Committee’s review sessions in Geneva.
Al Mezan was unable to send a representative to the review due to complications caused by Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza.
  In the Concluding Observations, the Committee found a large number of violations of Israel’s obligations under the ICCPR.
It voiced concerns about Israeli laws, policies and practices that constitute violations of the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including torture and ill-treatment.
The Committee reiterated its criticism of Israel for the lack of any disaggregated information concerning its compliance with the Covenant in the OPT, a territory that is effectively under Israel’s control and occupation.
It made a series of recommendations to Israel about how to ensure the protection of the rights of Palestinians being held in Israeli detention centers and prisons and of Palestinian civilians in the OPT, in line with its obligations under the ICCPR.
  The Committee called on Israel, inter alia, to: incorporate the crime of torture into its domestic legislation; refrain from using administrative detention; ensure that all detainees have immediate access to a lawyer; repeal the Detention of Unlawful Combatants Law; reinstate the family visit program for prisoners from the Gaza Strip; lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip; launch credible, independent investigations into serious violations of international law during Operation Cast Lead; end its practice of extra-judicial executions; and cease its practice of collective punitive home and property demolitions.