Israel / Occupied Palestinian Territory: Press Release: Escalation of the campaign of attacks against prominent Palestinian human rights organisations
Geneva-Paris, August 22, 2016 – The credible death threatsagainst a member of the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights evidence a seriousescalation in the ongoing smearing, intimidation, and threats campaign againstseveral prominent Palestinian human rights organisations. The Observatory forthe Protection of Human Rights Defenders urges the international community toensure that a genuine investigation takes place.
On August 10, 2016, an Al Mezan[1]’sstaff member received an email sent both to his personal and work emailaddresses, with the following death threat: “you deserve to see your loved onessuffer and die. but maybe you would be hurt before them…”. Six photos of thehouse where he resides were attached to this e-mail that follows two otherthreatening messages addressed to him on August 2 and 6.
Following the escalation in the level of the attacksagainst Al Mezan, the Observatory has been informed about numerous incidentsthat have taken place in recent months and that illustrate the scale of theongoing campaign of threats and attacks against Al Mezan and its staff members.These attacks have included threats to Al Mezan staff members both directly andthrough friends and donors, baseless accusations of affiliation with politicaland terrorist groups or groundless claims of mismanagement of their funds andof involvement in 'sexual crimes', just to mention some of the most worrying incidents.The smear campaign seems to attempt to discredit the organisation in the eyesof its donors and its international partners.
The nature and the content of the attacks seem toindicate the existence of close surveillance using advanced technologies totrack phone numbers, email addresses, and to get the content of thecommunications of Al Mezan’s staff members, not only in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) but alsoin Europe.
The Observatory strongly condemns the coordinatedattacks against Al Mezan and recalls that similar attacks have recently takenplace against Al-Haq[2]. These attacks aim atintimidating the organisations that pressured the Palestinian Authority (PA) tojoin the ICC and that submitted together with Al Dameer and the PalestinianCenter for Human Rights (PCHR) communications to the International CriminalCourt (ICC) Prosecutor’s Office urging it to open an investigation.
In light of the continued attacks endured by prominentPalestinian human rights organisations, the Observatory urges all relevantstakeholders, including the United Nations (UN) and the European Union, to takeaction to ensure that an immediate, exhaustive and independent investigation intothe situation is carried out. Moreover, they must contribute to create anenvironment where human rights defenders, including those critical of the relevantduty-bearers' human rights record, can operate freely, in compliance with therelevant international norms and standards, including the UN Declaration onHuman Rights Defenders.
The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programmeis to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights DefendersMechanism implemented by international civil society.
For more information, pleasecontact:
OMCT: MiguelMartín / Delphine Reculeau:+41 22 809 49 39
FIDH: ArthurManet / Audrey Couprie: + 33 143 55 25 18
[1] Al Mezan, a human rights organisation basedin Gaza and member of OMCT’s SOS-Torture Network, has declared its mission tobe 'to promote respect and protection for allhuman rights; particularly economic, social and cultural rights, in the GazaStrip as part of the OPT throughout research, legal intervention, advocacy andawareness with a sound combination of professionalism and communityparticipation'.
[2] See Observatory’s Urgent Appeal ISR 001 / 0816 / OBS 071 issued onAugust 11, 2016, and the Press Release of March 4, 2016, ”ISRAEL-PALESTINE:Al-Haq human rights lawyer based in The Hague receives death threats, asattacks against the organisation escalate”
