A Commissioner for Human Rights urges the United States to lift sanctions on Palestinian human rights organizations

The Human Rights Office stated, in a press statement, that the US sanctions announced on Thursday target the Al -Haq Foundation, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and the Al -Mizan Center for Human Rights, “against the background of their support for the work of the International Criminal Court on the situation in the occupied Palestinian land.”

He added that these measures come in the wake of other sanctions imposed by the US government in June on the well -known Palestinian Consultation Organization.

The Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said: “For decades, these non -governmental organizations have continued to perform vital human rights work, especially with regard to accountability for human rights violations. These sanctions will cause a frightening impact that is not limited to civil society in the occupied Palestinian land and Israel, but may become a global impact.”

He added that the work of civil society in documenting violations and cooperation with international accountability mechanisms is gaining the importance of double in light of the violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law systematically in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

He added that the sanctions imposed on these human rights organizations “It only deepens the policy of impunity, silence the voices of the victims, and preparing the climate to continue to commit violations and international crimes.”

He said that such attacks on NGOs that work to enhance respect for human rights are directly inconsistent with respect for the rule of law and other values ​​that have always defended and promoted the United States.

He urged the United States government to withdraw these sanctions immediately as well as those that were previously imposed on the special decision concerned with the human rights status in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, and a number of judges and prosecutors in the International Criminal Court.