43rd Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Joint Oral Intervention
Item 9 – Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance,
follow-up and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Date: 16 June 2020
International Community Must Recognize and Counter Israel's Apartheid Regime
Speaker: Ms Nada Awad, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Madam President,
Since 1948, Palestinians have faced an ongoing Nakba of continued displacement and dispossession, as part of Israel’s endeavour to uproot the indigenous Palestinian people from their homes, lands, and property. For 72 years, Israel has strategically fragmented, segregated, and isolated the Palestinian people, denying the right of return of Palestinian refugees, revoking residency rights and banning family unification – thus imposing an apartheid regime over the Palestinian people, as defined under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Embedded in a system of impunity, civic space continues to deteriorate as Israel systematically silences opposition to its apartheid regime through mass arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, and widespread collective punishment, including through the illegal Gaza closure, as well as Government-led smear campaigns to delegitimise human rights defenders and organisations, a process fuelled by racist hate speech and incitement to racial hatred and violence.
In the coming weeks, the Israeli government seeks to illegally annex large parts of the occupied West Bank. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestine has warned that Israel’s plans “would crystalize a 21st century apartheid, leaving in its wake the demise of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”[i]
Your Excellency,
Third States have systematically failed to put an end to Israeli impunity and to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. It is time to recognise that Israel has established and continues to maintain an apartheid regime of institutionalised racial oppression and domination over all Palestinians, on both sides of the Green Line, and refugees and exiles that are denied their right of return.
Accordingly, we urge all UN Member States to:
- Recognise and address Israeli apartheid over the Palestinian people;
- Endorse UN CERD’s 2019 concluding observations on Israel, which recognised policies of racial segregation and apartheid over Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line; and
- Recommend the reconstitution of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid and the UN Centre against Apartheid to put an end to this injustice.
Thank you.
Signatories:
Algeria
- Agir pour le changement et la Démocratie en Algérie
- Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights
Argentina
- Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
Austria
- Women in Black Vienna
Belgium
- Association Belgo-Palestinienne WB
- Broederlijk Delen
- Palestina Solidariteit vzw
Canada
- Just Peace Advocates
Egypt
- Belady Center for Rights and Freedoms
- Committee for Justice
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- The Freedom Initiative
Finland
- Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
- The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions - Finland
France
- Association France Palestine Solidarité
- Association Démocratique des Tunisiens en France –ADTF
- Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins Maghrébins de France
- Association des universitaires pour le respect du droit international en Palestine (AURDIP)
- Collectif des Familles de Disparu(e)s en Algérie
- Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
- Immigration- Développement- Démocratie
- Le Comité de Vigilance pour la Démocratie en Tunisie - Belgique
- Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les peuples (MRAP)
- Réseau Euromaghrébin Citoyenneté et Culture
- Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP)
Ireland
- Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
- Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance
Israel
- The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
Italy
- Associazione Cultura è Libertà
Lebanon
- Center for Arab Unity Studies
- Palestinian Human Rights Organization (PHRO)
Libya
- Belaady Organization for Human Rights
- Libyan Judges Organization
- Libyan Organization for Independent Media
- Independent Organisation for Human Rights
- International Arabic Organization for Women’s Rights
- Jurists Without Chains
- Youth Gathering for Tawargha
Luxembourg
- Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient
Morocco
- Association de Défense des Droits de l'Homme au Maroc
Netherlands
- Netherlands Palestine Committee (NPK)
Norway
- Coordination Committee for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of the State of Israel
Occupied Syrian Golan
- Al Marsad - Arab Human Rights Center in Golan Heights
Palestine
- Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
- Al Dameer Association for Human Rights
- Al-Haq
- Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights
- Applied Research Institute Jerusalem
- Bait AlMostuqbul Association
- Baitona For Community And Development
- Balsam Rehabilitation Society
- Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurryyat)
- Community Action Center, Al-Quds University
- Fares Al Arab for Development and Charity Works
- Filastiniyat
- Forsan Al-Ghad Youth Association
- Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (SHAMS)
- Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)
- MA'AN Development Center
- Nuseirat Rehabilitation and Social Training Association (NRSTA)
- Palestinian Agricultural Development Association
- Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
- Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network
- Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)
- The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem
- The National Society for Rehabilitation
- The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (MUSAWA)
- The Palestinian Counselling Centre (PCC)
- The Palestinian Developmental Women Studies Association "PDWSA"
- The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH
- The Palestine Institute for Public Policy
- Union of Health Care Committees
- Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
- Women’s Studies Centre
- Youth Political Forum
- Zakher Association
Pakistan
- Bytes for All
South Africa
- Lawyers for Human Rights
- South African Jews for a Free Palestine
Switzerland
- Association Switzerland-Palestine
- Human Rights Solidarity
Syria
- Baytna Syria
- Dawlaty
- Local Development and Small-Projects Support (LDSPS)
- Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
Togo
- Coalition Togolaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CTDDH)
Tunisia
- Fédération Tunisienne pour une Citoyenneté des deux Rives
- L’Union des Tunisiens pour l'Action Citoyenne
- National Observatory for the Defense of the Civil State
- Syndicat National des Journalistes Tunisiens
- The Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia
- Tunisian Association Defending Individual Liberties
- Tunisian Association for the Defense of Universal Values
- Tunisian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
- Vigilance for Democracy and the Civic State
United Kingdom
- Manchester Palestine Action
- Scottish Palestinian Forum
- The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions - United Kingdom
United States of America
- Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center
- American Muslims for Palestine
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Jewish Voice for Peace
- Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine
- US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
Yemen
- Mwatana for Human Rights
- Watch for Human Rights
Regional Organizations
Europe:
- European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
- The European Legal Support Center
Middle East and North Africa:
- Arab Network for Tolerance
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
East and Horn of Africa:
- DefendDefenders
West Africa:
- West African Human Rights Defenders' Network
International Organizations
- CIVICUS
- Housing and Land Rights Network – Habitat International Coalition
[i] OHCHR, “Israeli annexation plans would lead to ‘cascade of bad human rights consequences’ says UN expert,” 1 May 2020, available at:https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25857&LangID=E.