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Letter, Al-Haq
Al-Haq's Intervention to Diplomatic Representatives Regarding
the Travel Restrictions Imposed on Al-Haq's General Director
Dear Sir / Madam,
As a Palestinian organisation dedicated to the protection and
promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
(OPT), Al-Haq would like to call your attention to the severe travel
restrictions that have been imposed on its General Director, and
longstanding human rights defender, Shawan Jabarin. Mr. Jabarin's
case is illustrative of the numerous difficulties faced by human
rights defenders who volunteer or work with non-governmental
organisations in the OPT.
On 23 March 2006, having unsuccessfully attempted to cross
from the West Bank to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge, Mr. Jabarin was
issued with an Israeli police order requesting that he present
himself at the 'Atsion Liaison Office, between Bethlehem and Hebron,
at noon on Sunday, March 26. On the specified day, Mr. Jabarin
arrived at 'Atsion as requested and handed over his ID and the
police order. After being forced to wait outside the compound's gate
for four hours, Mr. Jabarin was informed that before he could be
granted access he would have to lift up his shirt. After refusing to
submit to this humiliating treatment, Mr. Jabarin was told by an
Israeli official, "We have your ID and you can go home." Thus, Mr.
Jabarin was forced to leave without proper identification or any
kind of document attesting to the fact that his ID had been
confiscated. Without his ID, Mr. Jabarin was prevented from
travelling within the West Bank. This severely hindered his right to
freedom of movement, enshrined in Article 12 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and consequently disrupted
his professional duties and activities for Al-Haq. After repeated
efforts to secure its return, Mr. Jabarin finally received his ID in
July 2006 following an intervention by the Israeli human rights
organisation HaMoked to the Israeli legal advisor's office.
Since the events described above, the Israeli authorities
have refused to grant Mr. Jabarin permission to travel abroad. In
October 2006, Mr. Jabarin's request to travel to a conference in
Spain was refused. Similarly, Mr. Jabarin was denied authorisation
to travel to Egypt to participate in a conference organised by
Christian Aid from 10-15 December 2006. Mr. Jabarin's appeal against
the latter refusal was rejected by the Israeli High Court, which
upheld the ban on his travel, based on classified material shown in
the presence of one side.
Israel's practices
in regard to Mr. Jabarin violate his fundamental human rights. The
Israeli authorities failed to provide Mr. Jabarin with any
opportunity to challenge the exit prohibition prior to its coming
into force. Also, the decision to prohibit Mr. Jabarin from leaving
the OPT is all-encompassing and unlimited in time. It is not limited
to a specific place, city or country, and fails to take into
consideration the purpose of Mr. Jabarin's travels abroad, namely
the promotion of human rights. It is worth noting that the Israeli
authorities have allowed Mr. Jabarin's exit in the past. Since 1999,
Mr. Jabarin has travelled abroad on eight separate occassions.
Indeed, as recently as February 2006, the Israeli authorities twice
permitted Mr. Jabarin's exit from the OPT. On one of those
occassions, involving travel to a conference in Morocco, Mr.
Jabarin's request was answered in the following terms: "according to
the inspection we have conducted à we have no comments concerning
permitting the above to exit à according to accepted procedures."
Since then, there has been no change in circumstances that would
justify Mr. Jabarin being prevented from travelling to participate
in human rights activities outside of the OPT. Consequently, one
must question the motives behind the denial of Mr. Jabarin's right
to freedom of movement.
According to the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina
Jilani, human rights defenders in the OPT operate under conditions
that are absolutely incompatible with international norms and
standards of human rights. One of the biggest obstacles to the work
of human rights defenders in the OPT is restrictions on freedom of
movement. In this regard, it should be noted that Mr. Jabarin's case
is not an isolated incident. Several other human rights defenders
have been prevented from travelling to participate in human rights
activities outside of the OPT. It is submitted that these Israeli
travel restrictions are aimed at preventing the revelation of human
rights abuses by Israel, and are used against human rights defenders
to deter the defence of human rights. Such restrictions infringe
upon the rights of defenders to report human rights violations at
the international level. They negatively impact upon the ability of
human rights defenders to travel abroad to attend international
conferences and other events that would strengthen their knowledge
and skills and allow them to raise the issue of human rights abuses
in the OPT before a wider audience. On an organisational level, they
severely hinder Palestinian human rights organisations' capacity to
use international networks to advocate for the respect of human
rights in the OPT.
Human rights defenders play a vital role in promoting and
striving for the protection and realisation of human rights at the
national and international levels. In the context of Israel's almost
40-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territory, and the
continuing violations of the rights of the Palestinian population,
any attempt to impede the ability of human rights defenders in the
OPT to function cannot be tolerated. It is only through respecting
human rights that a just and durable solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be found. With this in mind, Al-Haq
calls on you to intervene with the Israeli authorities on Mr.
Jabarin's behalf, requesting that the prohibition on his travel
abroad be lifted.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nizar Ayoub
Advocate
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