Palestinian Human Rights
On the weekend Israel made the decision to outlaw six Palestinian human rights organisations in the West Bank in a dramatic escalation of its efforts to stifle advocacy for Palestine. Issues in Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories is complex and always tense, but absolutely worth looking at further.
The State of Israel’s designation of six Palestinian human rights organisations and unions as “terrorist” organisations is designed to criminalise, persecute, and silence Palestinian civil society and human rights defenders for their commitment to the struggle against Israeli occupation, entrenched settler-colonialism, and apartheid. It is a dangerous attack on the internationally protected rights of freedom of speech, association, and assembly. It allows the Israeli Government to arrest human rights defenders, and confiscate property of the organisations in an effort to silence Palestinians in their efforts to resist the occupation. It has been alleged that no evidence has been provided to support the accusations against the six groups, nor has any public process been conducted to establish the allegations.
The six organisations, include Al Haq, Palestine’s premier legal advocacy organisation; Defence of Children International (Palestine) who highlight the horrific treatment of Palestinian children in the military courts; as well as Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; Bisan Center for Research and Development; the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.
The Australian statement has been signed by 70 organisations, including Amnesty, ACTU, Australian Council for International Development, as well as many former diplomats, academics, lawyers and former parliamentariansThe Statement was released this morning and has already compelled the Government to respond – saying they are “seeking further information” – but they need to do much more.
The move has been described by UN Human Rights experts as a “frontal attack on the Palestinian human rights movement, and on human rights everywhere.” The announcement has been criticised by the US. EU Governments providing funding for the organisations said prior similar allegations have been unfounded.
UN human rights experts in their statement of 25 October said: ‘anti-terrorism legislation is designed for a specific and restricted purpose, and must not be used to unjustifiably undermine civil liberties or to curtail the legitimate work of human rights organisations.’”