UN human rights experts call on
Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem
GENEVA (26 July 2019) ‑ Two UN human rights experts have
condemned Israel’s demolition of 10 buildings comprising approximately 70
housing units in Sur Baher, a Palestinian neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.
“We are following the developments
in this matter very closely,” said Leilani Farha, the Special Rapporteur for
the right to housing, and Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for human rights
in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
“We are deeply concerned that,
following the dismissal by the Israeli High Court on Sunday of a petition by
the residents of the designated housing units against the impending demolition
order, the buildings have now been demolished.
“The demolition of these apartment
buildings aggravates the coercive environment that many Palestinians in the
West Bank, including East Jerusalem, face. The international community has
critically commented on a number of occasions about the extremely low rates of
housing construction permits allowed by the Israeli authorities for
Palestinians seeking to build, or add to, homes in the West Bank, including
East Jerusalem.”
The demolition of these housing
units in Sur Baher is part of a larger pattern of home demolitions occurring in
the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to information available to
the UN experts, Israeli authorities have demolished a total of 63 East
Jerusalem housing units so far in 2019. Over the same period in 2018, 37 East
Jerusalem housing units were demolished.
“What is required in the West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, are fair and equitable planning policies for the
construction of housing,” said the UN experts.
The area in Sur Baher where the
housing units were located is technically within the West Bank, but it lies on
the Jerusalem side of Israel’s separation wall. The apartment buildings were
built with the proper construction permits issued by the Palestinian
authorities. However, the Israeli military issued an order in 2011 prohibiting
construction within 100-300 metres of the wall.
According to the Fourth Geneva
Convention, any destruction of private property by an Occupying Power is
prohibited except where it is rendered absolutely necessary by military
operations. “As the International Court of Justice found in its 2004 advisory
opinion on the construction of the separation wall, the route of the wall,
including those parts of the wall which are constructed inside of the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem, is not justifiable on the basis of military
exigencies nor by national security,” Lynk said.
“The home demolitions in Sur Baher
appear to be forced evictions in violation of article 11 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other human rights,” the
experts said, calling upon the Government of Israel to ensure that it upholds
its obligations under international human rights law and international
humanitarian law.
Earlier this week, the UN human
rights experts raised their concerns directly with the Government of Israel.
ENDS
Mr. Michael Lynk was designated by
the UN Human Rights Council in 2016 as the Special Rapporteur on the situationof human rights in the Palestinian Territory 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.
Ms Leilani Farha is the UN SpecialRapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate
standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context.
Farha is the Executive Director of the NGO Canada without Poverty, based in
Ottawa. A lawyer by training, for the past 20 years Ms. Farha has worked both
internationally and domestically on the implementation of the right to adequate
housing for the most marginalized groups and on the situation of people living
in poverty. Her most recent report to the Human Rights Council focuses on
access to justice for the right to housing.
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 Palestinian Territory and Israel
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kmarshall@ohchr.org).
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Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org)
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