Human Rights Council Hears that Israeli and Palestinian Authorities Use Punitive Measures to Silence Civil Society Members – Press Release

20 June 2023

The Human Rights Council this morning heard that the human rights situation in Eritrea continues to deteriorate and that both Israeli and Palestinian authorities use punitive measures to silence Palestinian and Israeli civil society members.

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The Council then held an interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.

Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, said the report focused on attacks and restrictions on and harassment of civil society.  Palestinian and Israeli civil society members had long stood at the forefront of advocating for self-determination for the Palestinian people, for an end to the occupation and recurring human rights violations and for accountability.  The report found that the rights to freedoms of association, expression and opinion, and to peaceful assembly, as well as a number of economic, social and cultural rights, were being violated by all three responsible authorities: the Government of Israel, the Government of the State of Palestine, and the de facto authorities in Gaza.  The examination revealed that the majority of violations were being committed by Israeli authorities. 

Ms. Pillay said the Israeli Government had increasingly restricted civic space through a strategy of delegitimising and silencing Palestinian and Israeli civil society, to quell dissent, thwart democratic institutions and practices, and strengthen authoritarianism.  Israeli authorities used a variety of punitive methods intended to deter and interfere with the activities of Palestinian civil society members.  Deprivation of liberty, including through arbitrary arrests and detention, administrative detention, travel bans and restrictions of movement, deportations and revocation of identity and residency documents, were all widely practiced against civil society members.  The Commission found that security agencies of the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza authorities also used detention, torture and ill treatment to punish and intimidate critics and opponents.  Legislation, including counter-terrorism legislation, was increasingly used by all responsible authorities to undermine the ability of civil society to operate effectively.  Palestinian and Israeli women human rights defenders had been targeted by all duty bearers and by non-State actors. 

Israel was not present in the room to take the floor as a concerned country.

State of Palestine, speaking as a concerned country, said a number of countries, including the United States, had sent a joint statement against the mandate of this Commission of Inquiry.  This was deplorable.  The illegal occupation of the State of Palestine had been going on for 56 years.  There were ongoing incursions into cities, villages and camps by the occupation forces.  The occupying power had continued to refuse to cooperate with the mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.  Israel had last year classified six Palestinian institutions as terrorist organizations and closed them.  Occupying forces had killed 52 journalists without accountability for any of the officials responsible.  The occupying power needed to curb its racist policies and guarantee non-impunity.  The State of Palestine was investigating the violations highlighted in the report of the Commission. 

The Commissioner General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights of Palestine also took the floor.

In the ensuing discussion on the occupied Palestinian territories, some speakers, among other things, expressed concern about reports of the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.  They condemned human rights violations in occupied territories by Israeli authorities.  Speakers also expressed concern about Israel’s bombing of the occupied territory, forced relocation and arbitrary detention of Palestinians, and expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied territory.  Some speakers expressed support for a two-State solution, with East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State, which they said would lead to peace in the region.  Some speakers expressed support for the Commission of Inquiry’s mandate and called for the full implementation of the Commission’s recommendations, while other speakers expressed concern that the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry was too broad, one-sided and did not have a sunset clause.  Some speakers condemned anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bias expressed by certain members of the Commission, and raised concerns about a lack of information in the Commission’s report on human rights violations by Palestinians.

Speaking in the discussion were United States on behalf of a group of countries, Venezuela on behalf of a group of countries, European Union, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Oman on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council,  Lebanon on behalf of the group of Arab States,  United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Luxembourg, Iraq, Netherlands, Sovereign Order of Malta, France, Spain, United States, Syria, Indonesia, Venezuela, Maldives, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Ireland, Egypt, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Türkiye, Namibia,  Bangladesh, Oman, China, Iran, Libya, Chile, Niger, Senegal, Yemen, Mauritania, Jordan, Cuba, Algeria, Lebanon, Bolivia, Russian Federation, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Liechtenstein and Australia.

Also speaking were Defence for Children International, Institute for Non-Governmental Organization Research, Human Rights Watch, United Nations Watch, Norwegian Refugee Council, B’nai B’rith, ADALAH – Legal Centrr for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Amnesty International, BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights and International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here.  All meeting summaries can be found here.  Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-third regular session can be found here.