GENEVA (26 July 2023) \u2013 The international community must take steps to prevent Israel\u2019s annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory or risk being seen as accepting the Israeli Government\u2019s systematic violation of international law, UN experts said today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael\u2019s continuous annexation of portions of the occupied Palestinian territory, now focusing on large swathes of the West Bank after unlawfully annexing east Jerusalem, suggests that a concrete effort may be under way to annex the entire occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2020, 46 UN experts\u00a0urged<\/a>\u00a0the international community to firmly oppose Israel\u2019s plans for annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. Our call went unheard then and we cannot stay silent now. The tragedy continues to unfold for both Palestinians and Israelis, unequally trapped in the maze of unlawfulness and injustice. Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders, who peacefully bring public attention to these violations, keep being slandered, criminalised or labelled as terrorists,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n In February 2023 Israel\u2019s governing coalition transferred most of the governing powers over the West Bank to the additional minister of defence, effectively designating Bezalel Smotrich, a civilian official, as the de facto governor of the occupied West Bank. The experts noted that the move solidified Israel\u2019s annexation of occupied territory.<\/p>\n View of Construction of Separation Wall on West Bank, 2003<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cAnnexation or acquisition of territory by use of force or threat, is categorically prohibited under international law. It constitutes an act of aggression, a crime that falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and poses a threat to international peace and security. Israel has persistently pursued annexation in many parts of the occupied Palestinian territory. Over the last five decades, Israel has confiscated or endorsed confiscation of Palestinian lands and resources, resulting in over 270 colonies housing 750,000 Israeli settlers,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n While the Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory enjoy civil and political rights, Palestinians are subject to military rule. \u201cThe consolidation of an apartheid regime is an unavoidable consequence of such a system,\u201d the experts added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe large majority of Member States of the UN unequivocally condemned Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and its annexation of Ukraine\u2019s eastern parts as an act of aggression\u201d, the experts said, \u201cand they imposed sanctions on Russia to encourage a cessation of this violation of international law\u201d. \u201cBy contrast, Israel\u2019s annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory is obfuscated by political rhetoric, debates and negotiations, which ultimately rest on double standards,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis show of\u00a0\u00e0 la carte<\/i>\u00a0enforcement of international law undermines the foundations of the UN Charter and the promise of universality of international human rights, 75 years after the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n They expressed grave concern regarding the escalating scale and brutal nature of violence perpetrated against Palestinian men, women and children, noting the violation of the right to life, among others, as annexation intensifies, and called on Israel to end these violations immediately. \u201cWe fear that the spiral of violence will continue unless the primacy of international law as a foundation of peace and security is restored,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n They urged Member States of the UN to utilise the range of available legal means to seek an end to these illegal acts.<\/p>\n \u201cJustice must be served, and international law must be upheld without double standards to end this cycle of violence and secure a just and lasting peace for both Palestinians and Israelis,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n *The experts<\/b>:\u00a0Francesca Albanese,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967<\/b><\/a>; Reem Alsalem,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences<\/b><\/a>; Pedro Arrojo-Agudo,<\/b>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation<\/b><\/a>; Ravindran Daniel\u00a0<\/b>(Chair-Rapporteur),\u00a0Sorcha MacLeod, Chris Kwaja, Carlos Salazar Couto<\/b>,\u00a0Working Group on the use of mercenaries<\/b><\/a>; Olivier De Schutter,<\/b>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Surya Deva<\/b>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the right to development;<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Fernand de Varennes<\/b>,Special Rapporteur on Minority issues<\/b><\/a>; Isha Dyfan,\u00a0<\/b>Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Dorothy Estrada Tanck\u00a0<\/b>(Chair), Ivana Rada\u010di\u0107\u00a0<\/b>(Vice-Chair), Elizabeth Broderick<\/b>,\u00a0Meskerem Geset Techane and Melissa Upreti<\/b>,\u00a0Working Group on discrimination against women and girls<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Michael Fakhri,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the right to food<\/b><\/a>; Ian Fry,<\/b>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change<\/b><\/a>;<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Ashwini K.P<\/b>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism<\/b><\/a>; Irene Khan,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Freedom of Opinion and Expression<\/b><\/a>; Mary Lawlor,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders<\/b><\/a>; Tlaleng Mofokeng,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0<\/b>Obiora C. Okafor,\u00a0<\/b>Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Balakrishnan Rajagopal,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing<\/b><\/a>; Morris Tidball-Binz<\/b>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Barbara G. Reynolds<\/b>\u00a0(Chair), Bina D\u2019Costa, Catherine Namakula, and Dominique Day<\/b>,<\/b>\u00a0Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Margaret Satterthwaite,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers<\/b><\/a>;<\/b>\u00a0Farida Shaheed,\u00a0<\/b>Special Rapporteur on the right to education<\/b><\/a>;\u00a0Attiya Waris,\u00a0<\/b>Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt.<\/b><\/p>\n The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the\u00a0Special Procedures<\/b><\/a>\u00a0of 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\u2019s 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 organisation and serve in their individual capacity.<\/p>\n UN Human Rights, Country Page:\u00a0Occupied Palestinian Territory<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Israel<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n For more information and\u00a0media requests<\/b>, please contact Junko Tadaki (+41 22 917 9298,\u00a0junko.tadaki@un.org<\/a>) or write to:\u00a0hrc-sr-opt@un.org<\/a><\/p>\n For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org<\/a>) or Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n Follow news related to the UN\u2019s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts<\/p>\n Concerned about the world we live in? GENEVA (26 July 2023) \u2013 The international community must take steps to prevent Israel\u2019s annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory or risk being seen as accepting the Israeli Government\u2019s systematic violation of international law, UN experts said today. \u201cIsrael\u2019s continuous annexation of portions of the occupied Palestinian territory, now focusing on large swathes of […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[897],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[6684,5465,6590,6811,5990,6822,5073,4570,2025,4754,6221],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2849,1741,1961,2185,6251],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-288607","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-israel","document-category-press-release","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-contemporary-forms-of-racism","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-extrajudicial-summary-arbitrary-executions","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-minority-issues","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-independence-of-judges-and-lawyers","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-promotion-and-protection-of-the-right-to-freedom-of-opinion-and-expression","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-of-everyone-to-the-enjoyment-of-the-highest-attainable-standard-of-physical-and-mental-health","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-to-adequate-housing","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-defenders","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls-its-causes-and-consequences","document-source-working-group-on-discrimination-against-women-and-girls","document-subject-annexation","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-jerusalem","document-subject-legal-issues","document-subject-west-bank","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/288607","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":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/288607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289035,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/288607\/revisions\/289035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=288607"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=288607"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=288607"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=288607"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=288607"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=288607"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=288607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/UN7314925.jpg\")
\nThen STAND UP for someone’s rights today.<\/b>
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\nand visit the web page at\u00a0http:\/\/www.standup4humanrights.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"