Volker Turk warns that the US sanctions over ICC cooperation may have a ‘chilling impact’ on civil society globally.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has rejected United States sanctions on Palestinian rights teams as “unacceptable”, calling for them to be revoked amid world outrage towards the US transfer.
Turk, on Friday, lauded the work of the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) focused by the US for his or her cooperation with the Worldwide Felony Courtroom – Al-Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and Al-Mezan Heart for Human Rights.
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“For many years now, these NGOs have been performing very important human rights work, significantly on accountability for human rights violations,” he stated.
“I urge the US Authorities to withdraw instantly these sanctions.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had designated the Palestinian teams for sanctions on Thursday, blocking their belongings and banning Americans from partaking in monetary transactions with them.
“These entities have immediately engaged in efforts by the Worldwide Felony Courtroom (ICC) to research, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, with out Israel’s consent,” Rubio stated in a press release.
He additionally promised to proceed to “reply with important and tangible penalties” to efforts to prosecute Israeli officers on the ICC.
The transfer comes as a part of a broader marketing campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump to penalise critics of Israel at dwelling and the world over.
Over the previous months, Washington has imposed sanctions on a number of ICC judges and officers, in addition to UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese, for looking for accountability for Israel’s abuses.
Final yr, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for warfare crimes expenses in Gaza, together with utilizing hunger as a weapon of warfare.
The US, underneath then-President Joe Biden, was fast to reject the costs, arguing that Israel shouldn’t be a celebration to the Rome Statute that established the ICC.
However the courtroom asserted its jurisdiction over alleged warfare crimes in Gaza as a result of they occurred within the state of Palestine, which had joined the courtroom in 2015.
Rubio reiterated the US place in his announcement on Thursday.
“This administration has been clear: america and Israel aren’t occasion to the Rome Statute and are due to this fact not topic to the ICC’s authority,” the highest US diplomat stated.
For his half, the UN’s Turk stated the US transfer emboldens impunity and encourages “a local weather of continued fee of violations and worldwide crimes”.
“Such assaults on NGOs working to advertise the respect for human rights run immediately counter to respect for the rule of legislation and different values which the US has lengthy stood for and promoted,” he stated. “The sanctions can have a chilling impact not solely on civil society within the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, however probably globally.”
Earlier on Friday, a coalition of Palestinian and Israeli rights teams, together with B’Tselem, launched a press release backing the focused NGOs.
“We stand in full solidarity with our colleagues and companions working for human rights between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and particularly within the face of the genocide that Israel is committing within the Gaza Strip,” the teams stated.