Yesterday, 65 Palestinian, regional and international organizations sent a joint letter to the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, welcoming him in his new position and urging him to take concrete measures to ensure justice and accountability for the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

 Noting how the Palestinian people have been denied their right to self-determination for decades, the joint letter emphasized that the human rights situation in Palestine should be at the top of the High Commissioner’s agenda, including by prioritizing the annual updating of the UN Database on Settlement Business Activities, as mandated.
 
The letter noted with concern, the repeated and unexplained delays regarding the update of the Database, which are unprecedented in the way the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has handled prior mandates, and are due to reported political pressure and interference exerted on the OHCHR.
 
To this end, the letter highlighted Israel’s systematic efforts in silencing human rights defenders, voicing their opposition to Israel’s unlawful policies and practices and pushing for international justice and accountability, including by arbitrarily outlawing six prominent Palestinian civil society organizations.
 
That being said, the organizations expressed their trust that such pressure will not derail the OHCHR from its commitment to human rights, justice, and accountability, and urged the new High Commissioner and his Office to:
 
Recognize and acknowledge the root causes of the prolonged denial of Palestinian rights, embedded in Israel’s settler-colonialism and apartheid;
Prioritize the annual updating of the UN Database, as mandated under HRC Resolution 31/36, and ensure that appropriate resources are allocated so as to allow for continued development of the Database;
Continue working with civil society organizations and human rights defenders in full transparency for the completion and continuous updating of the Database;
Address Israel’s institutionalized and systematic targeting of the Palestinian people, including the 15-year-long closure on the Gaza Strip, and Israel’s mass and arbitrary ‘shoot-to-kill’ and administrative detention policies; and
Investigate and report, by means of country visits or otherwise, attacks against human rights defenders working on issues related to Palestine and facing intimidation or arbitrary legislative or administrative restrictions, and ensure their protection.