(Jerusalem, March 27, 2017) — Al-Haq
welcomes the first report to the Human Rights Council by the UN Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the OPT, Professor
Michael Lynk. In his report (PDF),
the Special Rapporteur calls on Israel to bring a complete end to its
50 year occupation of the Palestinian territory and honour the rights of
human rights defenders in the OPT. Professor Lynk called on Israel to
end the use of criminal, legal, and security tools to obstruct the
legitimate work of human rights defenders, including the use of
arbitrary arrests and detentions, and to repeal all restrictive
legislation targeting human rights defenders.
As
highlighted in the report, civil society organizations and human rights
defenders across the OPT and Israel, including Al-Haq, have faced
repeated attacks aimed at undermining our important and necessary work,
but we remain steadfast in pursuing our missions.
“Al-Haq, a leading Palestinian human rights organization, has endured a grievous pattern of threats, cyber-attacks and a campaign of attempted interference; with their work by persons unknown. Beginning in the autumn of 2015 and continuing into 2016, a series of detailed letters by either anonymous or impersonating individuals were sent to donors and partners of Al-Haq, purporting to raise serious concerns about fraud, corruption, financial disarray, lack of transparency and organizational disunity at the organization. Al-Haq was required to expend considerable resources refuting the unfounded allegations, including having its auditors — Ernst & Young — assure the partners and donors that there has been no financial or institutional malfeasance. Other messages contained explicit threats to the lives or well-being of various Al-Haq employees, including its General Director, Shawan Jabarin.” — Page 12 of the report
“One highly illustrative and disturbing example of the current climate was the series of sophisticated death threats and menacing accusations issued to Ms. Nada Kiswanson, a human rights lawyer in The Hague, The Netherlands, where she represents Al-Haq and other human rights defenders in Europe and before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Beginning in February 2016 and intensifying over the following months, Ms. Kiswanson received multiple phone and email messages to private numbers and encrypted message services — some of them anonymous, others from individuals impersonating governmental, intergovernmental and international organizations — stating that she would be “eliminated”, she was “not safe at all and hopefully this would remain”, and “Honey, you are in grave danger. You have to stop what you are doing.” Thousands of fabricated leaflets with Al-Haq’s logo were distributed to homes in Ms. Kiswanson’s neighborhood, describing Al-Haq as an organization “working to strengthen the Islamic base in the country,” and asking for financial donations to be delivered to her home address.
Funeral flowers were left in front of her house. Amnesty International stated that it had to temporarily shutter its office in The Hague, after one of its employee’s email accounts had been hacked as a means of sending threats to Ms. Kiswanson. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders noted that these attacks demonstrated a high level of technological sophistication and financial backing. To date, police in the Netherlands have investigated the threats and have provided protection for Ms. Kiswanson, but they have been unable to locate their source. This is the first known attack on Dutch soil against a human rights defender working on ICC issues.” — pages 14 & 15 of the report
Al-Haq welcomes the first report to UNHRC by UN Special Rapporteur, Professor Michael Lynk, on the situation of human rights in the OPT
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