This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Sunday 20 Dec 2015 - 11:27 Makkah mean time-9-3-1437
Michel Forst (UN Photo)
Jerusalem (IINA) – United Nations independent experts on Friday voiced grave concern at continued reports that human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Hebron, are being subjected to physical attacks and death threats, denouncing such harassment as “unacceptable” and called for it to end immediately.
Human rights defenders have been subjected to physical attacks, harassment, arrest and detention, and death threats, in an apparent bid by Israeli authorities and settler elements to stop their peaceful and important work, according to a press release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“Amidst a charged and violent atmosphere over past months in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Palestinian and international defenders are providing a ‘protective presence’ for Palestinians at risk of violence, and documenting human rights violations,” said Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
“The continued harassment of human rights defenders in the region, who are exercising their rights to freedoms of expression and association, is simply unacceptable. It should cease immediately,” Forst stressed.
Earlier this month, a group of UN human rights experts urged the Israeli Government to ensure a protective environment where human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory can work without unlawful restriction and without fear of retaliatory acts.
“We recently addressed concerns to the Israeli Government regarding retaliatory acts by Israeli authorities against members of one organization based in Hebron, Youth Against Settlements, after its Centre was subjected to raids and settlers allegedly called for it to be closed,” noted Makarim Wibisono, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
He pointed out that the Centre has now effectively been shut down as a result of the Israeli military declaring the surrounding area a military zone.
“We urge Israeli authorities to lift this military order,” added Wibisono.
Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work, UN News Center reported.
AB/IINA
|
No comments:
Post a Comment