United Nations, Aug 19 : The UN called on Israel to permit human rights and human groups to continue working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).On Thursday, Israeli forces broke into the offices of seven Palestinian human rights and humanitarian groups in Ramallah in the occupation of the West Bank, Xinhua quoted UN News as saying in an article.
The house was destroyed and confiscated.military orders for closing offices were posted on the building.
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine Lynn Hastings said that attempts to close “affect all institutions that support the rights of people and to promote development as well as provide assistance”.
The UN and its partners are concerned about allegations of funding terrorists and the Israeli classifications of the entities in question as illegal and/or terrorist organisations according to UN News.
Despite numerous offers to look into the allegations to determine whether funds were taken away, Israeli authorities have not provided any convincing evidence to UN agencies and NGO partners in the OPT to support the designations.
Some member states recently declared that the evidence shared with them did not support the designations.
“The attempted closure of the offices of these organisations are the most recent in an ongoing series of actions taken by Israel that further limit the capacity of the human rights and development and humanitarian actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which affects all institutions working to support the rights of people, develop and provide assistance” the UN agencies and the Association of International Development Agencies stated in an announcement.
The statement reiterated a prior one that was issued in November, stating the requirement that anti-terrorism legislation be in conformity with the obligations of international law, specifically human rights law and international humanitarian law.rights law.
This includes complete respect for the right to freedom of expression and association.
It is not applicable to human rights violations that are legal or humanitarian work.The scope of the Israeli 2016 Anti-Terrorism legislation and its impact on the presumption of innocence raise serious questions in international law.
“We demand the authorities of Israel to abstain from any action that could hinder these organizations from carrying on their crucial human rights, development and humanitarian initiatives in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the statement concluded.
