{"id":269111,"date":"2021-12-09T13:20:30","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T18:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=269111"},"modified":"2021-12-09T13:28:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T18:28:00","slug":"ngo-action-news-9-december-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/ngo-action-news-9-december-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"NGO Action News \u2013 9 December 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-background-position:left top;--awb-border-sizes-top:0px;--awb-border-sizes-bottom:0px;--awb-border-sizes-left:0px;--awb-border-sizes-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-padding-top:20px;--awb-padding-bottom:20px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-one\" style=\"--awb-margin-top:-60px;\"><h1 class=\"fusion-title-heading title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:34;line-height:1.4;\"><h1 class=\"main-title blue\">Civil Society and the <span class=\"secondline\">Question of Palestine<\/span><\/h1><\/h1><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-alert alert custom alert-custom fusion-alert-center notice fusion-alert-capitalize awb-alert-native-link-color alert-dismissable awb-alert-close-boxed alert-shadow\" style=\"--awb-background-color:#edf2fc;--awb-accent-color:#a0a0a0;--awb-border-size:1px;--awb-border-top-left-radius:0px;--awb-border-top-right-radius:0px;--awb-border-bottom-left-radius:0px;--awb-border-bottom-right-radius:0px;\" role=\"alert\"><div class=\"fusion-alert-content-wrapper\"><span class=\"alert-icon\"><i class=\" fa fa-exclamation-circle\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><span class=\"fusion-alert-content\">This page may contain links to third-party Web sites. The linked sites are not under the control of the United Nations and the United Nations is not responsible for the content of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. The United Nations provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link or reference does not imply endorsement of the linked site by the United Nations. This newsletter is a project of the Division for Palestinian Rights, and is intended to provide information on NGO activities relevant to the question of Palestine . NGOs interested in contributing information on their activities should communicate it by email.The Division reserves the right to make the final selection with regard to material to be included in this newsletter. It cannot take responsibility for the accuracy of the information.<\/span><\/div><button style=\"color:#a0a0a0;border-color:#a0a0a0;\" type=\"button\" class=\"close toggle-alert\" data-dismiss=\"alert\" aria-label=\"Close\">&times;<\/button><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-2 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><strong>Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On 7 December, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alhaq.org\/advocacy\/19289.html\">Al-Haq<\/a> informed it had submitted two urgent appeals to the United Nations Special Procedures calling on the UN Special Rapporteurs to protect Palestinian human rights organizations and individuals confronted with Israel\u2019s laws, policies and practices aimed at cultivating a coercive environment for Palestinian human rights defenders. Al-Haq further stressed that both spyware surveillance of human rights defenders and Israel\u2019s designations of six CSOs as \u201cterrorist organizations\u201d form part of an interconnected network of inhuman and repressive acts against those who oppose what it considers to be a \u201cregime of apartheid\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On 7 December, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alhaq.org\/advocacy\/19288.html\">Al-Haq<\/a> published the article \u201cSpecial Focus: Use of Excessive Force by the Israeli Occupying Forces, the Case of Abdallah Abu Baker\u201d. In this article, the CSO takes example from the injury of a Palestinian minor to argue that employment of excessive force by Israeli security forces is a strategy to silence, punish and weaken legitimate resistance against a multi-layered oppression perpetrated against the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On 2 December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/pchrgaza.org\/en\/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-breaches-against-palestinians-with-disabilities-continue\/\">Palestinian Center for Human Rights<\/a> (PCHR) published an article to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, recalling that several persons with disabilities have been killed or injured by Israel security forces this year. PHCR further stressed that persons with disabilities still suffer from diminished quality of diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitation healthcare services, while their situation in Gaza has been exacerbated by recent conflicts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On 2 December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/cihrs.org\/joint-ngo-letter-urging-eu-targeted-sanctions-against-nso-group\/?lang=en\">Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies<\/a> published a joint letter sent by Palestinian and International NGOs and Independent Experts to the EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell and Foreign Ministers of EU member states urging the EU to take targeted sanctions against the Israeli company NSO Group. According to this letter, the systemic targeting of Palestinian human rights defenders with Pegasus spy software provides evidence of a pattern of human rights abuses facilitated by NSO Group through spyware sales to governments that use the technology to persecute civil society and social movements in many countries around the world. The NGOs asked the EU to follow suit and urgently put NSO Group on its global sanction list and take all appropriate action to prohibit the sale, transfer, export, import and use of NSO Group technologies, as well as the provision of services that support NSO Group\u2019s products, until adequate human rights safeguards are in place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On 1 December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/pchrgaza.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/202112_unwilling_and_unable_eng.pdf\">Palestinian Center for Human Rights<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btselem.org\/publications\/202112_unwilling_and_unable\">B\u2019Tselem<\/a> published the joint report \u201cUnwilling and Unable: Israel\u2019s Whitewashed Investigations of the Great March of Return Protests\u201d. In this report, the two organizations analyse the investigations Israel claims to have conducted following the Great March of Return protests, which from March 2018 were held for about a year and a half in the Gaza Strip. The report further argues that the Israeli military\u2019s investigations in relation to the Gaza protests were never intended to ensure justice for the victims or to deter troops from similar action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On 1 December, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.badil.org\/press-releases\/12749.html\">Badil<\/a> published a press release from the Global Palestinian Refugee Network calling on the international donor community to rescind the anti-terrorism clauses and conditions in their granting contracts. The network claims that such clauses imposed by donors reinforce the Israeli strategy to de-legitimize and eliminate the Palestinian civil society.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>North America<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On 2 December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/fmep.org\/resource\/scorched-earth-settlements-in-jerusalem\/\">Foundation for the Middle East Peace<\/a> (FMEP) published the podcast \u201cScorched Earth &amp; Settlements in Jerusalem\u201d, from the series Occupied Thoughts. In this podcast, FMEP\u2019s Kristin McCarthy speaks with Daniel Seidemann (Terrestrial Jerusalem) about developments in Jerusalem and the political, diplomatic, and bureaucratic forces at play behind them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>United Nations<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On 7 December, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, briefed the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2021\/12\/1107352\">United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People<\/a> (CEIRPP) on the human rights situation in the OPT. Ms. Bachelet stated that the situation has become \u201cdisastrous\u201d, with severe infringements occurring effecting some four million people. The event was held in virtual format and livestreamed on UNTV.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On 7 December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/supporting-human-rights-defenders-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-reality-challenges-and-obligations-virtual-event\/\">CEIRPP<\/a> held the virtual event \u201cSupporting Human Rights Defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Reality, Challenges, and Obligations\u201d. The event was organized to shed light on the implications of the Israeli decision of 22 October 2021 to designate six Palestinian human rights and humanitarian NGOs as \u201cterrorist organizations\u201d, with a panel of speakers including Wessam Ahmad (Director of the Applied Center for International Law, Al-Haq), Saleh Higazi (Head of Jerusalem Office, Amnesty International), Michael Sfard (Israeli Human Rights Lawyer) and Omar Shakir (Israel and Palestine Director, Human Rights Watch). The event was held in virtual format and livestreamed on UNTV.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-3 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p><em>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 \u201cas is\u201d without warranty of any\u00a0<\/em>kind,<em>\u00a0and do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, or reliability of the information contained in the websites linked in the newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1239,1512],"tags":[],"country":[],"committee-meeting":[],"class_list":["post-269111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-ngo-action-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269111"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=269111"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=269111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}