United Nations Human Rights Council – 43rd Regular Session Item 7 – Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories Joint Oral Intervention Delivered by: Al-Haq, Law in….
United Nations Human Rights Council – 43rd Regular Session
Item 7 – Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories
Joint Oral Intervention
Delivered by: Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
Speaker: Ms Nada Awad, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Date: 16 June 2020
Madam President,
The Israeli government seeks to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank starting July 1st. This follows decades of de facto annexation and the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. Annexation was permanently outlawed with the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945 and gives rise to responsibilities on all States not to recognize the illegal situation, not to render aid or assistance in its maintenance, and to cooperate to bring it to an end.
Yet, in Palestine, third States have continued to tacitly maintain annexation and colonisation, including through corporate complicity, and failed to adopt effective coercive measures to bring the illegal situation to an end. That further Israeli annexation is announced today, when it was already illegal in 1948 and 1967, is a testament to third State failure to end Israeli impunity.
Madam President,
Annexation should not be addressed in isolation from the wider context. Annexation of the Jordan Valley would further entrench the Israeli apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole, within the meaning of the Rome Statute. As such, the only genuine response to annexation needs to start by addressing the root causes prolonging Palestinian oppression: dismantling Israeli apartheid.
We call on third States to finally impose sanctions on Israel to put an end to impunity. We urge Member States to publicly support and cooperate with an ICC investigation into the Situation in Palestine and to welcome the release of the UN database of businesses operating with illegal settlements and commit to supporting its annual update as a first step towards ending corporate complicity and ensuring justice and accountability.
Thank you.
Signatories:
1. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
2. Al Dameer Association for Human Rights
3. Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights
4. Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
5. Arab Network for Tolerance
6. Association des universitaires pour le respect du droit international en Palestine (AURDIP)
7. Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)
8. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
9. Center for Arab Unity Studies
10. Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
11. Community Action Center – Al-Quds University
12. Cooperazione Per Lo Sviluppo Dei Paesi Emergenti (COSPE)
13. Defence for Children International – Palestine
14. Fares Al Arab for Development and Charity Works
15. Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network
16. Human Rights and Democracy Media Center – SHAMS
17. Just Peace Advocates
18. MA’AN Development Center
19. MRAP (Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples)
20. Nuseirat Rehabilitation and Social Training Association (NRSTA)
21. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
22. Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)
23. The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights – Hurryyat
24. The National Society for Rehabilitation
25. The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD)
26. The Tunisian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
27. Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP)
28. Union of Health Care Committees
29. Youth Political Forum