The 43^rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council resumed on 15 June; it had been suspended on 13 March 2020 due to restrictions on meetings and assemblies in Geneva in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the session's suspension, CIHRS’ advocacy focused on four countries: Palestine, Syria, Libya and Egypt.

Following the resumption of the session, CIHRS focused on advancing the recognition of Israeli apartheid over the Palestinian people, ensuring the annual updating of the UN database of businesses involved with Israeli settlements, and advocating for the adoption of the long overdue investigation mechanism on Libya. CIHRS also engaged in the urgent debate on racism and in civil society mobilization against China’s attempts to undermine human rights at the HRC.

Palestine

Unprecedented Recognition of Israel’s Apartheid Regime

This session witnessed unprecedented recognition of the Israeli regime of apartheid imposed upon the Palestinian people. In the context of its ongoing campaign calling for the recognition of Israeli apartheid over the Palestinian people and the adoption of effective measures to overcome the apartheid regime, CIHRS delivered a joint statement on behalf of 114 Palestinian, regional, and international civil society organizations, sending a strong message to UN member states that now is the time to recognize Israel’s establishment and perpetuation of an apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole.

Countries including South Africa, Namibia, and Pakistan echoed civil society calls and addressed Israeli apartheid during the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council. Forty-seven UN rights experts also warned that “The morning after annexation would be the crystallization of an already unjust reality: two peoples living in the same space, ruled by the same state, but with profoundly unequal rights. This is a vision of a 21st century apartheid.” A group of human rights organizations, including CIHRS, affirmed in a joint statement before the Council that "annexing these lands would entrench racial, ethnic and religious separation and give it a legal basis."

United Nations Human Rights Council – 43rd Session
Joint Oral Intervention^[1]
Item 9 – Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, follow-up and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Date: 17 June 2020

Delivered by: Nada Awad, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

Madam President,

Last month, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Israel swore in a new government evidently committed to formally annexing parts of the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) in the West Bank in July, in blatant violation of international law. This annexation, part of the so-called Trump-Netanyahu “Deal of the Century” and the Netanyahu-Gantz coalition agreement, normalizes Israel’s colonial project and amounts to apartheid via the continued expansion and construction of illegal settlements, displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, and demographic manipulation.

The principles of this plan are enshrined in Israel’s Jewish Nation-State Basic Law enacted in July 2018. This law established a constitutional order based on systematic ethnic supremacy, domination, and segregation in the so-called “Land of Israel” and the denial of the realization of national self-determination for the Palestinian people. Article 7 of this law provides that Jewish settlement is a national value to be encouraged and strengthened, giving the state authorities further constitutional legal tools to justify the illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories. This law intends to justify a constitutional segregation in land and housing that targets all Palestinians in historic Palestine, including Palestinians citizens of Israel, who have suffered decades of systematic oppression.

Annexation would further entrench racial, ethnic, and religious segregation as a legal norm. In this context, Israel will formally establish itself as the sole sovereign regime over the Palestinian people in historic Palestine.

We call on the UN and the international community to advocate for the dismantling of all settlements, to vehemently oppose any annexation, and to guarantee the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right of return to their homes and property.

^[1] Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al-Haq, Law in Service of Man, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC), and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights.

CIHRS also delivered a statement on behalf of 29 civil society organizations, warning that “Annexation should not be addressed in isolation from the wider context. Annexation of the Jordan Valley would further entrench the Israeli apartheid regime over the Palestinian people [...] As such, the only genuine response to annexation needs to start by addressing the root causes prolonging Palestinian oppression: dismantling Israeli apartheid.”

United Nations Human Rights Council – 43rd Regular Session
Item 7 – Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories
Joint Oral Intervention^[1]
Delivered by: Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
Speaker: Ms Nada Awad, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

Date: 16 June 2020

Madam President,

The Israeli government seeks to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank starting July 1st. This follows decades of de facto annexation and the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. Annexation was permanently outlawed with the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945 and gives rise to the obligation on all States to neither recognize the illegal situation nor render aid or assistance to its maintenance; together with cooperating to bring it to an end.

Yet in Palestine, third States have tacitly continued to maintain annexation and colonisation, including through corporate complicity, while failing to adopt effective deterrent measures to bring the illegal situation to an end. Today's announcement of further Israeli annexation, when it was already illegal in 1948 and 1967, is a testament to third State failure to end Israeli impunity.

Madam President,

Annexation should not be addressed in isolation from the wider context. Annexation of the Jordan Valley would further entrench the Israeli apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole, within the meaning of the Rome Statute. As such, the only genuine response to annexation needs to start by dismantling Israeli apartheid, which is the root cause of prolonged Palestinian oppression.

We call on third States to finally impose sanctions on Israel to put an end to impunity. We urge Member States to publicly support and cooperate with an ICC investigation into the Situation in Palestine, and to welcome the release of the UN database of businesses operating with illegal settlements and commit to supporting its annual update. The database represents a first step towards ending corporate complicity and ensuring justice and accountability.

Thank you.

[1] Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al Dameer Association for Human Rights, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man, Arab Network for Tolerance, Association des universitaires pour le respect du droit international en Palestine (AURDIP), Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Center for Arab Unity Studies, Collectif Judéo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine, Community Action Center – Al-Quds University, Cooperazione Per Lo Sviluppo Dei Paesi Emergenti (COSPE), Defence for Children International – Palestine, Fares Al Arab for Development and Charity Works, Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network, Human Rights and Democracy Media Center – SHAMS, Just Peace Advocates, MA’AN Development Center, MRAP (Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples), Nuseirat Rehabilitation and Social Training Association (NRSTA), Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS), The Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights – Hurryyat, The National Society for Rehabilitation, The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), The Tunisian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP), Union of Health Care Committees, and Youth Political Forum

Ensuring the annual updating of the UN database of Businesses Involved with Israeli Settlements

On 16 June 2020, CIHRS welcomed the release of the initial report of the UN database of businesses involved with Israeli settlements, which was published ahead of the 43rd HRC session in February 2020, after years of delay linked to undue political pressure on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to suppress this important tool. CIHRS and civil society from across the world called on the OHCHR to ensure annual updates of the database, as the database represents a historic touchstone and important precedent in broader efforts to ensure corporate accountability.

During HRC 43, states from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America welcomed the release of the database. States also called for the annual update of the database by the OHCHR as mandated in HRC resolution 31/36, including in two joint statements on behalf of OIC and the Arab Group, reflecting the position of 57 states. Ecuador, chairing the open-ended intergovernmental working group mandated with the elaboration of an international legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights, also delivered a strong statement calling for the annual update of the UN database.

The four annual resolutions on Palestine were adopted at this session; they cover the following issues: accountability, Israeli settlements, the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and the human rights situation in the OPT. The accountability resolution was discussed under agenda item 2 and moved for the second consecutive year from agenda item 7 by the sponsors of the resolution. Echoing arguments also made by Israel, some European states have called for the removal of item 7, an agenda item focusing on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories. Despite being moved to item 2, many European states failed to vote in favor of the accountability resolution. This failure is a symptom of the double standards demonstrated by European countries and others when it comes to ensuring accountability for violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed by the state of Israel at the Human Rights Council.

Libya

Creation of Long Overdue Investigation into War Crimes

On June 22, 2020 The UN Human Rights Council (the Council) adopted an important resolution to establish an investigation on Libya at the conclusion of its 43^rd session. The resolution calls on the UN to “dispatch a fact finding mission” to investigate international crimes by “all parties in Libya” in order to “preserve evidence with a view to ensuring that perpetrators of violations or abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law are held accountable.”

Speaking before the Council, CIHRS highlighted that an escalation in fighting in Libya has led to a 113% increase in civilian deaths between the last quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, with reports of enforced disappearances, torture of detainees, use of child soldiers, summary executions, bombing of civilian homes, use of improvised explosive devices, and unlawful killings, including the recent discovery of eight mass graves in Tarhuna.

Black Lives Matter and Systematic Racism

Under the African Group’s leadership and following its request, the Human Rights Council held an urgent debate on 17 June 2020 on the “current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protest”. On June 18, during the urgent debate, CIHRS delivered two statements expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and calling for the Human Rights Council to investigate systemic racism and police brutality in the United States and around the world. The resolution adopted by the HRC by consensus failed to provide the mandate requested by hundreds of civil society organizations around the world, following undue political pressure by the US and its allies, which led to the adoption of a weaker resolution lacking a clear mandate to investigate the US violations. This has underlined the Council’s double standards and unwillingness to hold the US accountable. In the end of session a joint statement delivered by ISHR on behalf of CIHRS and seven other human rights organizations during the closing session of the Council, civil society organizations denounced the HRC's failure to advance an international investigation on the US: “It is a reflection of the deplorable behavior - a mix of bullying and cowardice - of certain UN member States who chose to prioritize short-term politics over human rights. In doing so, they are complicit in maintaining and perpetuating entrenched systems of racism and white supremacy.”

United Nations Human Rights Council – 43rd Regular Session
Oral Intervention – Urgent Debate on the “current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protest”
Joint Oral Intervention^[1]
Date: 18 June 2020

Speaker: Ms Nada Awad, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

Madam President,

Palestinians stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in calling for an end to systemic racism and the ongoing erasure of Black people, Native Americans, and indigenous peoples worldwide. We stand together in the struggle against colonial dispossession and the deep-rooted legacy of slavery, and recognise the long history of Black-Palestinian solidarity.

Just five days after George Floyd was brutally murdered by US police, Israeli border police killed Iyad Al-Hallaq, a Palestinian with a disability, in occupied East Jerusalem, in what amounts to a war crime giving rise to individual criminal responsibility at the ICC.^[2]

Iyad’s killing is not isolated. Over the years, Israel has resorted to a systematic shoot-to-kill policy targeting Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line. In 2019, the UN Commission of Inquiry found that, during the demonstrations in Gaza, Israeli snipers knowingly shot at journalists, health workers, children, and persons with disabilities.^[3]

Madam President,

Israel has unlawfully established itself as the sole sovereign over all Palestinians in historic Palestine, imposing systematic racial supremacy and domination over the Palestinian people. The Israeli state justifies the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources on the basis of entitlement, in what amounts to apartheid.

Recognizing the inter-connectedness of anti-colonial struggles around the world, we endorse calls for the creation of a commission of inquiry into systemic racism, police brutality, and excessive use of force against Black people and other people of colour in the US and worldwide, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Thank you.

[1] Al-Haq, Adalah – Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and Habitat International Coalition

[2] Al-Haq, “Al-Haq Sends Urgent Appeal to UN Special Procedures on the Extrajudicial Execution and Wilful Killing of Palestinian Person with Disability Iyad Al-Hallaq,” 9 June 2020, available at: http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16963.html.

[3] OHCHR, “No Justification for Israel to Shoot Protesters with Live Ammunition,” 28 February 2019, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=24226&LangID=E.

United Nations Human Rights Council – 43^rd Session
Oral Intervention – Urgent Debate on the “current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protest”
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
17June 2020

Delivered by: Nada Awad

Madam President,

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and those in the United States and around the world calling for accountability for police brutality and violence against peaceful protesters, and an end to systematic racial discrimination.

We welcome the African Group’s leadership on this important matter.

Your excellency,

Too often citizens in the Middle East and North Africa have been confronted by an international community unwilling to hold governments to account for violence and repression against those engaged in the struggle for justice, accountability, and equality.

Member states of the Human Rights Council gathered here today should not repeat the same mistake in regards to the issues at hand; meaningful action is required.

We join with civil society from around the world in calling on this council to investigate systematic racism and police brutality in the US and around the world.

Thank you Madam President.

23 June 2020

HRC double standards and unwillingness to hold the US accountable

Joint NGO statement^[1] following the adoption of HRC resolution on systemic racism and police violence following the Urgent Debate - delivered at the conclusion of 43rd session of the HRC

The Human Rights Council failed to set up a commission of inquiry with a specific focus on the United States of America last week. This impedes genuine justice and accountability at the international level for systemic racism and police violence in the US, in the West, and elsewhere.

We appreciate the governments from Africa and elsewhere who shed light on the failure of the U.S. and Western governments to protect Black people from systemic racism and police violence, and who sought to support those fighting racism on the front lines.

We mark the extraordinary fact that an urgent debate discussing these issues was held, and that the voices of victims’ families resonated and were a central part of the debate over the past week, as Philonise Floyd’s moving statement via video was included at the debate’s very outset. We also welcome the strong original resolution presented by the African Group. Some of the Council’s member States took a critical step toward elevating the voices and views of those most impacted by human rights violations - this must become the norm, not the exception.

This failure to advance an international investigation is not theirs. It is a reflection of the selectivity and double standards displayed by many States, particularly Western States, in failing to apply the objective criteria to which they have committed, in relation to one of their own. In doing so, they are complicit in maintaining and perpetuating entrenched systems of racism and white supremacy.

Shifting the resolution from being specific to the U.S. to being generic has served to subvert the debate into an “all lives matter” discussion, which has rendered invisible those who needed to be at the very centre of the Council’s action.

The situation in the United States fulfils many of the objective criteria that many States in this room have pledged to apply in determining how the Council can take action on a country situation.

The High Commissioner, Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies have raised the alarm over the situation in the US and even issued early warning signals;
There are widespread credible reports and video evidence of targeted attacks against peaceful protestors, journalists, and human rights defenders;
The violations are gross, widespread and systematic, targeting one group in particular;
Domestic remedies and mechanisms have been overwhelmingly inadequate in addressing the systematic and structural basis of the violations.

Nevertheless, we consider that a report of the High Commissioner on systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protestors, to be prepared with Special Procedures, could provide a useful opportunity for continued advocacy for meaningful change. We call on all States, including the US, to ensure the Office has the resources it needs for this mandate, and to engage in good faith with this process report, with genuine self-reflection and commitment towards change.

It is worth remembering the urgent debate manifested the struggles taking place today, bringing the sense of urgency from the streets of Minneapolis into the Palais des Nations in Geneva. It connected directly with the social movements and global outrage at the oppression that Black and minority communities are experiencing.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been a rallying call for movements across the globe experiencing oppression and brutality. The solidarity expressed by civil society throughout the world led to strong support for addressing systemic racism in the U.S.

This urgent debate has only re-energised us to work tirelessly at all levels until the Council meaningfully addresses the historic, systemic racism and oppression faced by people of African descent in the U.S. and the rest of the world. To do so, it must ensure that:

Facts and circumstances of systemic violations are established, through an independent investigation, of systemic racism in law enforcement in the U.S. and elsewhere;
Impartial mechanisms and processes for truth, justice and accountability exist and are effective,
Measures for prevention and guarantees of non-recurrence of future violations are put in place.

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[1] International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), American Civil Liberties Union, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-World), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales. Center for Reproductive Rights, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, and Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.

Combating China’s attempts to undermine the Human Rights Council

CIHRS supported partners in advocating against the resolution put forward by China entitled “Promoting mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of human rights”, which aims at advancing a restrictive and negative understanding of human rights at the Council, according to a letter by a number of human rights organizations, including CIHRS to the Council. While the resolution was adopted by the Human Rights Council, following important civil society advocacy, it did not enjoy support and failed to obtain consensus as member states raised concerns and requested a vote, which resulted in sixteen member states voting against the resolution and eight states abstaining.

UN Human Rights Council – 43^rd regular session
Item 10: General debate
Joint oral statement^[¹^]
19 June 2020

Delivered by: Nicolas Agostini

Madam President,

In this time of global crisis, we urge all States to recommit to enhancing the promotion and protection of human rights and the fulfilment of the UN Human Rights Council’s mandate, including through cooperation, dialogue, and scrutiny of specific human rights situations.

Scrutiny, along with support, is a major component of Item 10. In a recent report, “No Advice without Knowledge,” DefendDefenders found that while Item 10 can be a powerful tool to bring about progress, effective technical advice relies on the Council having detailed information on the situation on the ground, including the issues and needs of recipient countries and rights-holders. A large number of Item 10 resolutions contain significant monitoring and public reporting elements.

Dialogue and cooperation should also lie at the heart of Item 10. Our organisations understand credible “dialogue and cooperation” on human rights to mean good-faith engagement on the part of States and a willingness to be self-reflective and self-critical, all in order to benefit fully from the expertise and support of the Council and its mechanisms. True “cooperation and dialogue” means a willingness to cooperate with the Council, the UPR, Special Procedures, and other human rights mechanisms to address challenges faced and remedy abuses. It also means recognising the important complementary role of other stakeholders engaging with the Council and governments, such as civil society organisations, human rights defenders, journalists and national human rights institutions. It is essential that these stakeholders are able to participate, cooperate and engage in dialogues with the Council in a safe environment and without undue hindrance or fear of reprisal.

Madam President,

We are deeply concerned by the draft resolution tabled for consideration this session on “promoting mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of human rights,” which we consider seeks to undermine the carefully balanced mandate of the Council. While the initiative presents itself as being about cooperation in the field of human rights, it is a deeply divisive and polarising initiative. It pushes forward one singular vision of the direction of the human rights pillar at the expense of the consensus carefully forged among States over decades.

The initiative is in line with a flawed analysis set forth in a report by the Council’s Advisory Committee (A/HRC/43/31), which over-emphasises, in particular, the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention (para. 104) and goes as far as referring to “so-called” universal values (para. 106). This approach, grounded in a narrative of the Council being a de-contextualised service-provider, is not only illogical and futile, but also inconsistent with the Council’s mandate and practice. It ignores the reality that the cause of serious violations may often be political in nature, rather than merely a lack of knowledge or resources, and the valuable role the Council can play if it has information at its disposal as a result of frank and open debate.

We urge China to reconsider the initiative, on the basis of the significant concerns raised during the informal negotiations. If not, we call on the Council to reject this initiative, which takes aim at its core mandate.

Thank you.

[1] African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), International Commission of Jurists,

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Service for Human Rights,

Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SAHRDN), and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)