Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 6, 2021

In ajointstatement, the experts calledthedecision a frontal attack on thePalestinianhuman rights movement, and on human rights everywhere.

Silencing their voices is not what a democracy adhering to well-accepted human rights and humanitarian standards would do, they add.

Callingupon the international community toact, theyarguethat anti-terrorism legislation mustneverbe used to unjustifiably undermine civil liberties.

According to them, the UNSecurity Council, the GeneralAssemblyand the Human Rights Council have allbeen clearaboutthis issue.

The misuse of counter-terrorism measures in this way by the government of Israel undermines the security of all, thegroup of 17experts said.

The sixPalestinianorganizationsbeing redesignatedareAddameer, Al-Haq,Defensefor Children International Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, theBisanCenterfor Research and Development, and the Union ofPalestinianWomen Committees.

Among those groups theywork with arewomen and girls, children, peasant families,prisonersand civil society activists, all of whom face increased levels of discrimination and even violence, the experts said.

According to the UN experts,these organisations speak the language of universal human rights.

They use a rights-based approach to theirwork, including a gendered analysis, to document human rights abuses of all kinds in Palestine, including business-related human rights abuses, theysaid.

Theredesignationas terrorist organisations, in effect, bansthe work of these human rights defenders, and allowsthe Israeli military to arrest their staff, shutter their offices, confiscateassetsand prohibit their activities.

In atleastone case,according to the experts, thedecision may have been taken as a form of reprisal for cooperation with UN entities.

TheIsraeli military has frequently targeted human rightsdefenders in recent years, as its occupation has deepened, its defiance of international law has continued and its record of human rights violations has worsened, the experts say.

They note that mostinternational and Israeli human rights organisations facechallenges, butalsoargue thatPalestinianhuman rights defendershave always encountered the severest constraints.

Finally, the experts call upon the international community to use its full range of tools to request that Israel reversesthis decision.

These civil society organisations are the canaries in the human rights coalmine, alerting us to the patterns of violations, reminding the international community of its obligations to ensure accountability, and providing voices for those who have none, they conclude.

Special rapporteurs and other independent UN rights experts are appointed by the Human Rights Council. They are neither paid for their work, nor UN staff, andare independent of any government or organisation, and serve in their individual capacity.

On Sunday, TorWennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that he wasdeeply concernedby the continued Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

His statementfollows the announcement bythe Israeli authoritiesoftenders for the construction of more than 1,300 housing units in the occupied West Bank.

Mr.Wenneslandreiteratedthat all settlements are illegal under international law, remain a substantial obstacle to peace, and must cease immediately.

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UN experts condemn Israels designation of Palestine ...

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