Israel: UN experts condemn attacks against human rights defender Issa Amro and Palestinian civil society

GENEVA (17 November 2022) -- Israel must immediately lift the “closed military zone” it has imposed on the house of prominent Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro, say UN experts*.

Israeli occupation forces established a “closed military zone” around Amro’s house on 31 October, a day after Amro sought to file a police complaint against Israeli settler violence. The military order subsequently has been verbally renewed daily.

Amro, who is an internationally respected human rights defender and a civil society leader in youth education initiatives, regularly receives death threats from settlers and Israeli Forces. UN experts have previously intervened and called for his protection.

“The case of Issa Amro is emblematic of the sophisticated array of obstacles faced by Palestinian human rights defenders who engage in non-violent activities,” said the experts. “Israel’s use of military force to deter, silence or persecute non-violent and peaceful organisations and individuals is symptomatic of an apartheid regime, brittle and intolerant to any form of criticism.”

Amro’s house in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, also serves as a community centre of the Palestinian civil society organisation Youth Against Settlements, which seeks to end settlement expansion through peaceful civil resistance. The experts said the house closure raises serious concerns about freedom of association and assembly in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Amro was assaulted with sticks and rocks throughout October as he led an initiative to assist Palestinian families with the olive harvest. Amro was turned away by the local police when he attempted to file a complaint on 30 October.

“Israel is using counter-terrorism legislation and military orders to halt, restrict and criminalise legitimate human rights and humanitarian work, and as a means of controlling and repressing the Palestinian population,” the experts said. “Israel’s targeting of Issa Amro and closure of the Youth Against Settlements community centre amount to yet another unilateral Israeli attack on civic space across occupied Palestine.”

The experts again called on Israel to stop attacks on Palestinian human rights organisations and human rights defenders.

In January 2021, Amro faced 18 charges in Israeli Military Court in Ofer relating to his human rights work. Although 12 charges were dropped during his trial, in March 2021 Amro was sentenced to a three-month suspended prison sentence, with two years’ probation. His appeal is still pending.

Throughout 2022, settler violence has continued to increase across the occupied Palestinian territory for the sixth consecutive year.

ENDS

*The experts: Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Pages: Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel