IV.  APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW BY THE UNITED NATIONS all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner; and (b) address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations, and make recommendations to resolve them. Both the Commission and the Council have consistently considered violations of international humanitarian law to fall within their mandates. The Council has further decided that “given the complementary and mutually interrelated nature of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, the [universal periodic] review shall take into account applicable international humanitarian law.”153 Member States have repeatedly called for action by States and the United Nations to address such violations. For instance, in 1994, the Commission analysed the human rights situation in Rwanda and issued a resolution “condemn[ing] in the strongest terms all breaches of international humanitarian law […] and call[ing] upon all the parties involved to cease immediately these breaches, violations and abuses and to take all necessary steps to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and for humanitarian law”.154 The Commission also adopted a number of resolutions referring to abuses of both international human rights law and international humanitarian law in the context of armed conflict in Afghanistan, Burundi, Colombia, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Uganda, among others. More recently the Commission on Human Rights acknowledged that “human rights law and international humanitarian law are mutually reinforcing” and considered that “the protection provided by human rights law continues in armed conflict situations, taking into account when international humanitarian law applies as lex specialis”. The Commission emphasized that “conduct that violates international humanitarian law, including grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, of 12 August 1949, or of the Protocol Additional thereto of 8 June 1977 relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), may also constitute a gross violation of human rights”. The Commission then   Resolution 5/1, annex.   Resolution S-3/1. 153 154 103

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