Promotion and protection of all human rights/Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received (Israel) – HRC 34th session – Report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders (Michel Forst)(excerpts)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst

Addendum

Observations on communications transmitted to Governments and replies received^*

^* The present document is being circulated in the languages of submission only, as it greatly exceeds the word limitations currently imposed by the relevant General Assembly resolutions.

1. The present document is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, to the Human Rights Council, pursuant to resolution 25/18 of the Human Rights Council. The report provides observations on the communications on specific cases addressed by the Special Rapporteur to States, as well as observations on the replies received from States.

2. The cases and situations raised by the Special Rapporteur in this addendum include urgent appeals, allegations letters and other letters, issued between 1 December 2015 and 30 November 2016. The press releases included in this report are the ones issued between 1 December 2015 and 31 January 2017.

3. The report contains responses received from States before 31 January 2017. A small number of replies received before 31 January 2016 could not be included because translation of these documents was not available at the time of finalising the report. Most of the responses by States refer to cases raised by the Special Rapporteur during the period December 2015 to November 2016.

4.  For ease of reference, cases have been grouped by region, with countries within each region listed alphabetically according to their names in English. Each communication is referenced in one of six categories: urgent appeal (UA), allegation letter (AL), other letter (OL), joint urgent appeal (JUA), joint allegation letter (JAL) and joint other letter (JOL). This is followed by the date the communication was issued, as well as the case number and the date of the State’s reply. Where a State’s reply has been to acknowledge receipt of a communication or to request an extension of deadline to reply, this is indicated with an (A) after the reply date. The communications included in this report and the replies received from the concerned States, respectively, can be consulted on the following webpage https://spcommreports.ohchr.org. In bold, is a short reference to the allegations contained in the communication in the language of submission. Press releases (PR) published during the reporting period are referenced below the communications, with a hyperlink to the statement as uploaded on the OHCHR website. In bold, is the title of the press release in the language of the statement.

5. The Special Rapporteur is grateful to all States which have transmitted substantive responses to his communications. He considers response to his communications as an important part of cooperation by States with his mandate. He trusts that States who have not provided substantive responses to his communications will do so shortly.

6. The annex of the report contains information on the communications procedure and guidelines on the submission of complaints to the Special Rapporteur.

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State of Palestine

737. JAL 02/08/2016 Case no: PSE 1/2016  State reply: none to date

Allegations of threats, cyber-attacks and smear campaign against human rights organisation Al-Haq and its members and General Director, Mr. Shawan Jabarin.

738. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government has not provided him with a reply to the communication dated 2 August 2016 addressed to the State of Palestine.

739. The Special Rapporteur continues to express his concerns regarding the harassment, cyber-attacks and defamation campaign that the NGO Al-Haq, and its President Mr Sahawan Jabari continue to be subjected to. The Special Rapporteur requests to be provided with full details of any investigation and prosecutions which have been undertaken; as well as penal, disciplinary or administrative sanctions that have been imposed on alleged perpetrators.

740. On this occasion, the Special Rapporteur wishes to remind the Government of the State of Palestine of his request to extend an invitation to his mandate to effectuate an official visit to the State of Palestine.

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