{"id":130109,"date":"2018-03-20T18:08:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T18:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=130109"},"modified":"2018-03-28T10:00:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T14:00:59","slug":"un-rights-expert-decries-desperate-state-of-right-to-health-in-opt-un-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-rights-expert-decries-desperate-state-of-right-to-health-in-opt-un-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Rights Expert Decries Desperate State of Right to Health in OPT – UNHCHR Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629<\/a><\/p>\n

GENEVA (20 March 2018) \u2013 Israel has failed to uphold its obligations under international law to ensure the health and welfare of the Palestinian population under its control, said an independent\u00a0 expert mandated by the United Nations to monitor human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.<\/p>\n

Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, stated in a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0delivered to the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the healthcare system for Palestinians living in Gaza was on the edge of collapse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to health is one of the most fundamental and widely recognized of human rights, touching upon everything that we do as humans, and its robust promotion is one of the most effective tools available to reduce the scourges of social and economic inequalities, gender disparities, discrimination and poverty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s occupation of the Palestinian territory \u2013 with characteristics such as the expanding settlement enterprise, the annexation of territory, the confiscation of private and public lands, the pillaging of resources, the publicly-stated ambitions for permanent control over all or part of the Territory, as well as the Territory\u2019s fragmentation \u2013 has had a highly disruptive impact upon health care and the broader social determinants for health for Palestinians in the occupied territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynk noted with great concern increasing delays or denials in exit permits for those seeking needed medical treatment outside of Gaza, concluding that \u201cIsrael\u2019s byzantine and opaque exit permit system imposed upon patients who require treatment outside of Gaza is but one element which demonstrates that Israel\u2019s obligations as occupying power to the residents of Gaza remain far from fulfilled\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteur also drew attention to the impact of occupation, and associated violence, uncertainty, and regular violations of human rights, on the mental health of Palestinians, describing a mental health system that is increasingly ill-equipped to provide greatly needed support and resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health and social well-being of children are an apt barometer of the larger well-being of a society,\u201d Lynk said, identifying worryingly high rates of malnutrition in parts of the OPT.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn occupying power has the duty to ensure that the right to health \u2013 the enjoyment by the protected population of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health \u2013 is fulfilled during the temporary period of occupation,\u201d he said. \u201cMeasured against these obligations, Israel has been in profound breach of its responsibility with respect to the right to health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteur recommended that Israel \u201censure regular and reliable access, at all times, for all Palestinian patients who require specialized health care outside of their jurisdictions, consistent with genuine Israeli security concerns\u201d and to \u201ccomply fully with its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law with respect to fulfilling the health needs of the protected population\u201d, among other recommendations.<\/p>\n

Lynk highlighted other human rights issues, noting that the decision by the United States to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel resulted \u201cin a feeling of hopelessness among Palestinians which cannot be overstated, and it is against the background of 50 years of occupation that this announcement, and current concerns with respect to human rights, must be viewed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteur said: \u201cI once again call upon Israel to comply with international law and bring to a complete end its 50 year occupation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.\u201d<\/p>\n

View the full report by clicking\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

In 2016, the UN Human Rights Council designated Mr. Michael Lynk (Canada) as the seventh\u00a0<\/em>Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967<\/em><\/a>. The mandate was originally established in 1993 by the then UN Commission on Human Rights. As a Special Rapporteur, Mr. Lynk is part of what is known as the\u00a0<\/em>Special Procedures<\/em><\/a>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\u2019<\/em>s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures\u2019<\/em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n

UN Human Rights, Country Page:\u00a0<\/em>Occupied Palestinian Territories<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 and\u00a0<\/em>Israel<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information and\u00a0media requests<\/strong>, please contact Katharine Marshall (+41 22 917 9695 \/\u00a0<\/em>kmarshall@ohchr.org<\/em><\/a>) Sarah Jacquier Nobel (+41 (0) 22 917 9365 \/\u00a0<\/em>sjacquiernobel@ohchr.org<\/em><\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

For\u00a0media inquiries<\/strong>\u00a0related to other UN independent experts please contact<\/em>
\nJeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights \u2013<\/em>\u00a0Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 \/\u00a0<\/em>jlaurence@ohchr.org<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

This year, 2018, is the\u00a0<\/em>70th\u00a0anniversary<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/em><\/strong>, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration \u2013 translated into a world record 500 languages \u2013 is rooted in the principle that \u201call human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.\u201d 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\u00a0<\/em>Stand Up<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>for Human Rights<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/em>www.standup4humanrights.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arabic: \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0628\u064a\u0629 GENEVA (20 March 2018) \u2013 Israel has failed to uphold its obligations under international law to ensure the health and welfare of the Palestinian population under its control, said an independent\u00a0 expert mandated by the United Nations to monitor human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur on the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2437,1329,1338],"document-source":[2025],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1741,1805],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6544,6542],"class_list":["post-130109","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-arabic-text","document-category-press-release","document-category-statement","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-occupation","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-arabic","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/130109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/130109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=130109"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=130109"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=130109"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=130109"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=130109"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=130109"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=130109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}