Defense for Children International – Palestine

Cases
Case status
Unknown
Location of case in SG report
2022-036-004
Relevant SG report
Year of the report
2022
Country Geolocation

Latitude: 31.046051

Longitude: 34.851612

Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
Israel
From Region
UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
  • UN Special Procedures: Country
  • UN Special Procedures: Thematic
  • UN Treaty Bodies: HRC
  • UN (Dep.) High Commissioner on Human Rights
Dates of prior UN action
25 October 2021, 23 February 2022, 22 March 2022
Type of record
Named organization
Was the victim a foreign national?
No
Was the victim a minor?
No
Individual's/organization's activity

Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations

Type of rights defended
  • Accountability & impunity
  • Children’s rights
Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
No
Reported trigger of reprisal

Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations

Engagement with UN body
  • Unclear
Type of attempted engagement
  • Unclear
Location of mentioned reprisals
Israel, Palestine
Reprisal information
  1. On 19 October 2021, the Israeli Minister of Defence designated six Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations, namely, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (See Annex II), Al Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International – Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees as “terror[ist] organizations” under the Counter-Terrorism Law 5776 of 2016. On 3 November 2021, the Israeli Military Commander of the West Bank further declared five of the organizations as ‘unlawful’.
  2. On 25 October 2021, special procedures mandate holders publicly condemned the designations and noted that “at least for one of these organizations this decision may have been taken as a form of reprisal for cooperation with UN entities”. In her February 2022 report to the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasized that “these organizations have worked for decades to promote human rights and provide critical humanitarian assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and are key partners of the United Nations”.
  3. In its Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Israel adopted on 22 March 2022, the Human Rights Committee expressed its concern that “Counter-Terrorism Law 5776-2016 contains vague and overbroad definitions of ‘terrorist organization’ and ‘terrorist act’ and may be used to oppress and criminalize legitimate political or humanitarian acts, as illustrated by the designation, in October 2021, of six Palestinian civil society organization and terrorist organizations based on secret information.” (CCPR/C/ISR/CO/5 paras. 18 and 19).
  4. In July 2021, the offices of Defense of Children International Palestine (DCIP) in Ramallah were allegedly raided (ISR 8/2021) as well as the offices of Bisan Center for Research and Development, and one staff in each of the NGOs – Addameer (See Annex II), Al-Haq and Bisan Center for Research and Development – were surveilled and had their phones hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. (ISR 11/2021).
Types of reprisals suffered
  • Charge/Investigation/Prosecution: Charge/Investigation/Prosecution - General
  • Defamation / Defamation campaign
  • Property damage/raid/search/confiscation
Alleged/likely perpetrators
State actors
Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
No
Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
Yes
Was the case raised by a State at the UN?
No
Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
No
Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
No
Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
No
How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
0