Israel/OPT
22.04.02
Urgent Interventions
Israël: systematic violations by the authorities of human rights defenders’ freedom of action
URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
ISR 001/0402/OBS 027
Freedom of association
ISRAEL 22 April 2002
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint FIDH and OMCT programme, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Israel.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has received information from several Israeli and Palestinian human rights non-governmental organisations denouncing systematic violations by the Israeli authorities of human rights defenders’ freedom of action in the West Bank and in Gaza. Human rights defenders are not the only victims of human rights violations in a context where the entire population of the West Bank and Gaza is living a highly critical situation following the Israeli military operations conducted since March 29th in many parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. However, the Observatory is concerned that human rights defenders are targeted in such a manner so as render it impossible for them to continue to carry out some of their most important activities, such as collecting testimony and evidence of violations of human rights and humanitarian law .These violations consist in:
· The offices of several human rights NGOs have been raided and their material destroyed or badly damaged. Such is the case, for example, of Addameer, Al Haq, SHAML, LAW or the MATTIN Group's offices. Smashing computers, destroying hard disks, damaging fax machines, appear to be a common pattern of the Israeli army’s interventions according to information received by the Observatory. Destruction of material also takes place in the field; for instance a B'Tselem Hebron fieldworker had a video camera smashed by the army while he was filming a theft by soldiers from a shop.
· Severe restrictions imposed on human rights defenders’ freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: access to Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has been impeded. In many cases the Israeli authorities have argued that the areas HRDs wanted to investigate were “closed military zones” although it was obvious there were no security reason to prevent access to those places. For instance, on 19th April, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) was banned by the Israeli security forces from entering Gaza and the West Bank to conduct work in support of traumatised and tortured populations. On April 17, a delegation of human rights lawyers from several NGOs including LAW, AI and Lawyers Without Boarders was denied access to Jenin hospital although at the same time one member of the delegation – a forensic pathologist – was allowed in. They were eventually allowed in after a few hours. B’Tselem’s fieldworkers for the Jenin area and the Ramallah area were “stuck” outside of the town when the military operation began. Their fieldworkers in Bethlehem and in Nablus have been unable to move within those areas: a Bethlehem fieldworker has been reporting from home because of the curfew; on one occasion she managed to leave the house when the curfew was lifted for a few hours but on her way back she was shot at and luckily managed to escape injury. A Nablus fieldworker has been staying at one of local hospitals since the invasion of the town and practically lives there now. As the town is under curfew, he cannot leave the hospital compound and reach the scenes of the events in the different parts of town.
· Human rights field workers working in the West Bank and Gaza on behalf of Israeli NGOs are prevented from entering Israel: they cannot visit their offices in Jerusalem in order to receive training and to participate in staff meetings. Such is the case, for example, of B’Tselem fieldworkers. B’Tselem has made applicationsto the military authorities on numerous occasions regarding this issue but has always received negative answers.
· Human Rights lawyers have no access to detainees. This is particularly alarming due to the massive arbitrary arrests of Palestinians, held with no legal guarantees enabling them to exercise their right of appeal.
Action requested:
Please write to the Israel authorities urging them to:
i. guarantee the freedom of association and allow human rights defenders to collect testimonies and evidence of violations of human rights and humanitarian law .
ii. ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN general Assembly on December 9, 1998 in particular its article 1, which provides that "every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international level" and also its article 6.a :" every person has the right to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights including having access to information as to how those rights and freedoms are given effect in domestic legislation, judicial or administrative systems”.
iii. more generally abide by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Covenants and Conventions ratified by Israel.
Addresses:
Mr Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister, Prime Ministers’ Office, Qiriat David Ben Gourion, Jerusalem / Israël, Fax: 00972 2 566 48 38, 00972 2 651 26 31, Email: webmaster@pmo.gov.il, rohm@pmogov.il, pm@pmo.gov.il,
Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Minister of Defense, 37 Kaplan Street, Tel-aviv / Israël, Fax: 00972 3 696 27 57, 00972 3 691 69 40, Email: sar@mod.gov.il, pniot@mod.gov.il, sgansar@mod.gov.il,
Dr. Yossi Beilin, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, 29, Salah al-Din Street, Jerusalem, 91029, Israël, Fax: 00972 2 628 54 38, Email: sar@justice.gov.il
Mr Natan Sharansky, Minister of the Interior, Fax: 00972 2 670 14 11, Email: sar@moin.gov.il
Mr Dalia Rabin Pilosof, Deputy Defense Minister, Email: sgansar@mod.gov.il
Mr Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister, Email:
sar@mofa.gov.il
***********
Paris, Geneva, 22 April 2002Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
1998 Human Rights Prize of The French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : (+ 41 22) 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch
ISR 001/0402/OBS 027
Freedom of association
ISRAEL 22 April 2002
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint FIDH and OMCT programme, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Israel.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has received information from several Israeli and Palestinian human rights non-governmental organisations denouncing systematic violations by the Israeli authorities of human rights defenders’ freedom of action in the West Bank and in Gaza. Human rights defenders are not the only victims of human rights violations in a context where the entire population of the West Bank and Gaza is living a highly critical situation following the Israeli military operations conducted since March 29th in many parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. However, the Observatory is concerned that human rights defenders are targeted in such a manner so as render it impossible for them to continue to carry out some of their most important activities, such as collecting testimony and evidence of violations of human rights and humanitarian law .These violations consist in:
· The offices of several human rights NGOs have been raided and their material destroyed or badly damaged. Such is the case, for example, of Addameer, Al Haq, SHAML, LAW or the MATTIN Group's offices. Smashing computers, destroying hard disks, damaging fax machines, appear to be a common pattern of the Israeli army’s interventions according to information received by the Observatory. Destruction of material also takes place in the field; for instance a B'Tselem Hebron fieldworker had a video camera smashed by the army while he was filming a theft by soldiers from a shop.
· Severe restrictions imposed on human rights defenders’ freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: access to Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has been impeded. In many cases the Israeli authorities have argued that the areas HRDs wanted to investigate were “closed military zones” although it was obvious there were no security reason to prevent access to those places. For instance, on 19th April, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) was banned by the Israeli security forces from entering Gaza and the West Bank to conduct work in support of traumatised and tortured populations. On April 17, a delegation of human rights lawyers from several NGOs including LAW, AI and Lawyers Without Boarders was denied access to Jenin hospital although at the same time one member of the delegation – a forensic pathologist – was allowed in. They were eventually allowed in after a few hours. B’Tselem’s fieldworkers for the Jenin area and the Ramallah area were “stuck” outside of the town when the military operation began. Their fieldworkers in Bethlehem and in Nablus have been unable to move within those areas: a Bethlehem fieldworker has been reporting from home because of the curfew; on one occasion she managed to leave the house when the curfew was lifted for a few hours but on her way back she was shot at and luckily managed to escape injury. A Nablus fieldworker has been staying at one of local hospitals since the invasion of the town and practically lives there now. As the town is under curfew, he cannot leave the hospital compound and reach the scenes of the events in the different parts of town.
· Human rights field workers working in the West Bank and Gaza on behalf of Israeli NGOs are prevented from entering Israel: they cannot visit their offices in Jerusalem in order to receive training and to participate in staff meetings. Such is the case, for example, of B’Tselem fieldworkers. B’Tselem has made applicationsto the military authorities on numerous occasions regarding this issue but has always received negative answers.
· Human Rights lawyers have no access to detainees. This is particularly alarming due to the massive arbitrary arrests of Palestinians, held with no legal guarantees enabling them to exercise their right of appeal.
Action requested:
Please write to the Israel authorities urging them to:
i. guarantee the freedom of association and allow human rights defenders to collect testimonies and evidence of violations of human rights and humanitarian law .
ii. ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN general Assembly on December 9, 1998 in particular its article 1, which provides that "every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international level" and also its article 6.a :" every person has the right to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights including having access to information as to how those rights and freedoms are given effect in domestic legislation, judicial or administrative systems”.
iii. more generally abide by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Covenants and Conventions ratified by Israel.
Addresses:
Mr Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister, Prime Ministers’ Office, Qiriat David Ben Gourion, Jerusalem / Israël, Fax: 00972 2 566 48 38, 00972 2 651 26 31, Email: webmaster@pmo.gov.il, rohm@pmogov.il, pm@pmo.gov.il,
Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Minister of Defense, 37 Kaplan Street, Tel-aviv / Israël, Fax: 00972 3 696 27 57, 00972 3 691 69 40, Email: sar@mod.gov.il, pniot@mod.gov.il, sgansar@mod.gov.il,
Dr. Yossi Beilin, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, 29, Salah al-Din Street, Jerusalem, 91029, Israël, Fax: 00972 2 628 54 38, Email: sar@justice.gov.il
Mr Natan Sharansky, Minister of the Interior, Fax: 00972 2 670 14 11, Email: sar@moin.gov.il
Mr Dalia Rabin Pilosof, Deputy Defense Minister, Email: sgansar@mod.gov.il
Mr Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister, Email:
sar@mofa.gov.il
***********
Paris, Geneva, 22 April 2002Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
1998 Human Rights Prize of The French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : (+ 41 22) 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch