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Al-Haq Welcomes the Statement by UN Human Rights Experts Calling on Governments to Take Immediate Effective Steps to Protect the Six Designated Organisations
25، Apr 2022

Al-Haq welcomes the statement by twelve United Nations (UN) human rights experts calling on the international community to take “immediate and effective steps to protect and sustain the six Palestinian civil society groups that were designated as ‘terrorist organisations’ by the Government of Israel in October 2021.” The statement by the UN human rights experts released on 25 April 2022 comes at a critical time, marking the passing of six months since the Israeli settler-colonial and apartheid regime’s unlawful designation of the six leading Palestinian organisations.

In their statement, the UN human rights experts recognized and applauded “the indispensable work of Palestinian civil society in holding Israel accountable for its occupation and human rights violations and in promoting democratic principles and human rights within Palestinian society,” warning against the misuse of anti-terrorism laws and the implications of such designations that lack “any public concrete and credible evidence,” such as the EU suspension of funds to two of these organisations, which has “undermined the work of these Palestinian organisations and has had an incalculable impact on the communities they support.” Moreover, the experts noted that the information presented by Israel has also failed to convince a number of donors and states, and welcomed the statement by Belgium Minister of Development Cooperation following an internal investigative effort by Belgium concluding that the Israeli allegations are indeed baseless, pursuant to which action against the Palestinian organisations will not be taken.

The statement emphasized that “Israel has had six months to substantiate its accusations and it has failed to deliver,” , and called on the international community to “publicly conclude that Israel has not substantiated its allegations against the six organisations; resume, continue and even increase its financial and political support for the work of these six organisations; and demand that Israel retract the designations and cease its harassment of all Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights and civil society organisations which promote human rights and accountability in Israel and Palestine.”

See the full statement by UN Human Rights Experts here.

See the joint statement of the six organizations marking 6 months since their designation here.