NGO Action News – 23 March 2018

This newsletter informs about recent and upcoming activities of Civil Society Organizations affiliated with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The Committee and the Division for Palestinian Rights of the UN Secretariat provide the information “as is” without warranty of any kind, and do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, or reliability of the information contained in the websites linked in the newsletter.

NGO Action News
23 March 2018

Middle East

• On 21 March, Al Mezan, The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights published a briefing note on torture and ill-treatment in the OPT.

• On 20 March, B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories released a new report on “Minors in Jeopardy: Violation of the Rights of Palestinian Minors by Israel’s Military Courts”.

• On 18 March, The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned arbitrary measures taken against telecommunications companies in the context of investigations into the recent attack on the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza.

• On 18 March, Adalah reported that an Israeli town in the Galilee region cancelled the sale of land for new home construction in the community after it became clear that more than 50% of those purchasing the plots were Arab citizens.

• On 18 March, Al Mezan held a press conference to launch a report on the state of economic, social and cultural rights in the Gaza Strip in 2017.

North America

• On 21 April, the American Friends Service Committee is organizing in Indianapolis the one-day conference “Gaza Unlocked: Hearing in the Heartland”.

• On 28 March, the Cambridge Bethlehem People to People Project is hosting in Cambridge, MA, a talk with Zeiad Abbas Sharouch from the Middle East Children’s Alliance and ACLU staff attorney Carl Williams on “Incarcerated Children in Palestine: Making the US Connections”.

• On 29 March, Columbia University Centre for Palestine Studies is organizing a talk on “Routinizing Emergency: Bureaucracy as a Security Threat” with author and Hebrew University lecturer Yael Berda.

• On 26 March, the Foundation for Middle East Peace is inviting to a panel discussion on “The United States and the Israel-Palestine Peace Process, Past and Future”. The discussion will feature previous negotiators, advisors and participants who played influential roles in the peace process.

• On 16 March, The Jerusalem Fund hosted Osamah Khalil, Associate Professor of U.S. and Middle East History at Syracuse University, for a talk on his new book “Dream Palace of the Americans: Think Tanks and the Peace Process”.

• The Palestine Chronicle informed about a civil society initiative calling on the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution under the Uniting for Peace doctrine as “the next logical step to end the maritime siege of Gaza.”

Latin America

• On 8 April, the Club Unión Árabe Palestino and the Federación Palestina del Perú are organizing in Lima, Peru, the “Third Bike Ride for Peace in Palestine”.

Europe

• To mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, on 12 and 13 May, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Trade Union Friends of Palestine and Badil will be hosting in Dublin the “Overcoming the Ongoing Nakba – Palestinian Freedom Conference”. 

• From 7-21 April, the Association France Palestine Solidarité will be organizing in cooperation with other organizations the festival “Printemps de la Palestine” in Épinal, Nancy, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre and Villers.

• On 20 March, the European Union hosted in Brussels a pledging conference to mobilize financial support for the Gaza Central Desalination Plant & Associated Works Project.

United Nations

• On 28 March 2018, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold its 389th meeting at UN Headquarters in New York. Members of the Committee will be briefed on the recent Committee delegation visit to Uganda and will consider upcoming activities. The Committee will also be updated by the UNRWA Representative Office in New York on recent developments.

• On 21 March, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)’s Director of Advocacy and Campaigns, Neil Sammonds, delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva a statement on the right to health of Palestinians.

• On 20 March, the Human Rights Council held a general debate on the situation of human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories, after hearing reports by the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

• On 19 March, Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, warned in his latest report that the healthcare system for Palestinians living in Gaza was on the edge of collapse.