Al-Haq welcomes the first report to the Human Rights Council by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the OPT, Professor Michael Lynk. In his report, the Special Rapporteur calls on Israel to bring a complete end to its 50 year occupation of the Palestinian territory and honour the rights of human rights defenders in the OPT. Professor Lynk called on Israel to end the use of criminal, legal, and security tools to obstruct the legitimate work of human rights defenders, including the use of arbitrary arrests and detentions, and to repeal all restrictive legislation targeting human rights defenders.

As highlighted in the report, civil society organizations and human rights defenders across the OPT and Israel, including Al-Haq, have faced repeated attacks aimed at undermining our important and necessary work, but we remain steadfast in pursuing our missions.

"Al-Haq, a leading Palestinian human rights organization, has endured a grievous pattern of threats, cyber-attacks and a campaign of attempted interference; with their work by persons unknown. Beginning in the autumn of 2015 and continuing into 2016, a series of detailed letters by either anonymous or impersonating individuals were sent to donors and partners of Al-Haq, purporting to raise serious concerns about fraud, corruption, financial disarray, lack of transparency and organizational disunity at the organization. Al-Haq was required to expend considerable resources refuting the unfounded allegations, including having its auditors – Ernst & Young – assure the partners and donors that there has been no financial or institutional malfeasance. Other messages contained explicit threats to the lives or well-being of various Al-Haq employees, including its General Director, Shawan Jabarin." - Page 12 of the report