On 28 March 2024, during the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, Al-Haq delivered an oral statement under the general debate on Item 9 as part of its engagement. The statement emphasised the ongoing genocidal military campaign in Gaza and the escalation of discriminatory surveillance and persecution of Palestinians elsewhere. This escalation is exemplified by, inter alia, the recent amendment to Israel’s counterterrorism law, which targets social media consumption, and by arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, for possessing photos of Gaza on their cellphones. Crucially, Al-Haq underscored that such policies and practices are part and parcel of Israel’s settler-colonialism and apartheid regime, which aims to suppress any criticism of its domination and oppression. To this end, Al-Haq urged States to take concrete measures to enact a meaningful ceasefire in Gaza and to acknowledge and address Israel’s settler-colonialism and apartheid. Specifically, Al-Haq called for the reconstitution of the UN Centre Against Apartheid and the UN Special Committee against Apartheid as part of efforts to uphold international law and deliver justice to the Palestinian people.

Al-Haq’s full statement reads as follows:

Mr. Vice President,

For decades, Israel has been subjecting the Palestinian people to settler-colonialism and apartheid through various laws, policies and practices, and suppressing any criticism of its domination and oppression. 

While Israel continues, unabated, with its genocidal military campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, it escalates the practice of discriminatory surveillance and persecution of Palestinians under its control elsewhere. These measures aim to further fragment the Palestinian people as a whole.

In November 2023,  Israel amended its counterterrorism law to make the “consumption of terrorist materials” on social media a criminal offence, which amounts to criminalising access to information and thought policing.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, have been blindfolded, shackled, arrested, and beaten for having photos of Gaza on their cellphones, which have been forcibly confiscated and searched through by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints.

Mr. Vice President,

Third States’ failure to address the root causes of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people only fuels the continuation of Israel’s settler-colonialism and apartheid.

By insisting on addressing the Question of Palestine without concrete and genuine measures to deliver justice and realise the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, Third states are merely reinforcing the status quo and failing to uphold their obligations under international law.

States must take concrete measures to enact a meaningful ceasefire in Gaza; and acknowledge and address Israel’s settler-colonialism and apartheid; including through  the reconstitution of the UN Centre Against Apartheid and the UN Special Committee against Apartheid.

Thank you.