Occupied Palestinian Territory: Bleakest picture yet,
says UN expert after regional visit
GENEVA (29 June 2018) - A UN expert has expressed alarm
about the deterioration of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
saying reports received during his visit to the region this week painted the
most dispiriting picture yet of the situation on the ground.
“After years of creeping Israeli de facto annexation of
the large swathes of the West Bank through settlement expansion, the creation
of closed military zones and other measures, Israel appears to be getting
closer to enacting legislation that will formally annex parts of the West
Bank,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, Michael Lynk.
“This would amount to
a profound violation of international law, and the impact of ongoing settlement
expansion on human rights must not be ignored.”
Lynk travelled to Amman, Jordan this week to meet with
civil society, government officials and UN representatives to collect
information for his next report, to be presented to the 73rd session of the
General Assembly in October 2018. Israel, the occupying power, has continued to
prohibit him from travelling to the OPT.
“This is my third mission to the region since I assumed
the mandate in May 2016, and the reports I received this week have painted the
bleakest picture yet of the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory,” he said.
“Palestinians in the West Bank face daily indignities, as
they pass through Israeli checkpoints, face night raids of their homes, and are
unable to build or expand their homes or work to develop their communities due
to the complex system which makes building permits nearly impossible to obtain
from the Israeli authorities,” the Special Rapporteur said.
Lynk cited the situation of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin
community near Jerusalem, which is at imminent risk of forcible transfer after
the Israeli High Court of Justice upheld a demolition order for all structures
in the community.
“Its residents are living in a coercive environment that may
lead to forcible transfer, not knowing where they may find themselves in the
coming months and not knowing if they will be living in a place where they are
able to continue their traditional way of life,” he said.
The expert said the situation in Gaza continued to
worsen, highlighting that the electricity crisis for example, which became
acute last June, had not been alleviated.
“Residents are deprived of their most
basic rights, including the rights to health, to education, and most recently,
in attempting to exercise their right to freedom of expression and peaceful
assembly, they were deprived of the right to life,” Lynk said, in reference to
the recent demonstrations along the fence during which Israeli security forces
killed more than 100 and wounded thousands of Palestinian protesters.
He also expressed concern about the impact of significant
cuts to the funding of UNRWA, the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees,
noting its crucial role in providing health, protection and education services
as well as employment in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Special Rapporteur heard eloquent testimony about the
challenges facing the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, and expressed
concern at information he received that recently, the Israeli Government and
the Jerusalem Municipality have been advancing plans that risk denying the
residency rights of 120,000 Palestinians in the municipality as part of a
larger policy to maintain an Israeli Jewish majority in Jerusalem.
The Rapporteur was particularly concerned at information
he received this week indicating that many human rights organizations and human
rights defenders – Israeli, Palestinian, and international – are facing
increasing attacks aimed not only at their delegitimization but also at their
ability to operate.
He is particularly
concerned that these attacks are gaining traction with members of the
international community. “The incredible, and extremely difficult work that
these human rights organizations do is essential to preventing a further
deterioration of the human rights situation in the OPT, and any effort to
undermine this work only serves to weaken human rights in the OPT, and in the
broader world.”
ENDS
Mr. Michael Lynk was designated by the UN Human Rights
Council in 2016 as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The mandate was originally
established in 1993 by the then UN Commission on Human Rights.
Professor Lynk
is Associate Professor of Law at Western University in London, Ontario, where
he teaches labour law, constitutional law and human rights law. Before becoming
an academic, he practiced labour law and refugee law for a decade in Ottawa and
Toronto. He also worked for the United Nations on human rights and refugee
issues in Jerusalem.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
Special Procedures, the largest
body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name
of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that
address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of
the world.
Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not
UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from
any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, Country Page: Occupied PalestinianTerritories and Israel
For more information and media requests, please contact
Katharine Marshall (+41 22 917 9695 / kmarshall@ohchr.org) and Sarah Jacquier
Nobel (+41 (0) 22 917 9365 / sjacquiernobel@ohchr.org).
For media inquiries related to other UN independent
experts:
Jeremy Laurence (+ 41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org)
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948.
The
Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is
rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day.
In honour of
the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to
prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere
to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org
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