Last week, Al Mezan participated in agenda items two and three of the UN Human Rights Council’s 38th regular session, speaking to UN Special Rapporteurs and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Council session occurred in the midst of months of protest mostly in the Gaza Strip where 104 Palestinians were killed, for which the Israeli security forces and government garnered serious international criticism.
In two oral statements, Al Mezan commended the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly, on summary executions and on freedom of expression for their joint communiqués in which the UN experts condemned the killing of Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the Great Return March protests.[1]
During the March, Al Mezan sent UN Special Procedures nearly a dozen urgent actions that evidenced specific, well-documented instances of probable gross violations of human rights by Israel. The case files for two journalists and four children are among those submitted, as well as two cases of injury involving young men whose legs were amputated after they were punitively denied Gaza exit-permits for treatment in the West Bank.[2] The actions form part of a European Union-funded project that supports Al Mezan’s ability to challenge serious violations of international law in the Gaza Strip.
In a third oral statement, Al Mezan thanked High Commissioner Al Hussein for his dedication to the protection and promotion of human rights, justice and the international rule of law[3] during a period that saw rampant undermining of UN principles, including by Israel and the US—the latter of whom withdrew from the Council on the same day citing the UN’s criticism of Israel’s human rights record.
Reflecting Israel’s moves to entrench its illegal annexation of Jerusalem, Al Mezan and partner organizations Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem and Al Haq, submitted a written statement to the Human Rights Council. The briefing describes how Israel has used its domestic law and institutions to unlawfully alter the character, status, and demographic composition of Jerusalem in favor of an Israeli-Jewish majority, including through the forcible transfer of Palestinians.[4]
Ahead of Al Mezan’s attendance at agenda item 7 of the session in early July, its staff called on States to engage under the agenda item—affirming that it is an important forum for analysis of human rights and IHL issues in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory and a venue for critical voices of affected people to be heard.
