Ref: 27/2011

Today the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) published its annual report for the
year 2010.  The report covers the period from 01 January through 31
December 2010.  This is the sixteenth report in a series of annual reports
that PCHR has published since 1996. 

The report consists
of two main parts.  The first part addresses the human rights situation in
the Palestinian Occupied Territory (OPT), while the second part addresses
PCHR’s activities in 2010.  The first part of the report documents war
crimes and violations of international law and International Human Rights Law
committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the OPT during 2010.  It
also documents human rights violations and obstacles facing democratization
under the rule of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).  It further
presents recommendations to the international community and to PNA. 

The second part
of the report reviews PCHR’s activities in 2010. It first highlights the major issues of focus
in PCHR’s activities in 2010, including following up developments related to
the Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Gaza (the Goldstone Report);
efforts to prosecute Israeli war criminals before the international judiciary;
enhancing cooperation with the League of Arab States; promotion of cooperation
with human rights organizations; and enhancing cooperation with international
organizations. It further reviews the
activities of PCHR’s various units, and advocacy activities, including PCHR’s
participation in international conferences and meetings, PCHR’s meetings with
international delegations and representatives, PCHR’s interviews with the media
as well as publications issued by PCHR during 2010. 

The report is
published in both Arabic and English is distributed widely on the local and
international levels.  PCHR distributes the report to civil society
organizations, local and international human rights organizations, governmental
institutions, diplomatic missions, UN agencies, as well as to journalists and
media outlets. 

In addition to
the report, PCHR has prepared a summary of the report . The report
is available now  on PCHR’s web site.  

It should be
noted that PCHR’s annual report contributes to raising awareness of the human
rights conditions in the OPT and is the outcome of work over the course of an
entire year.  Based on its legal status
as a not-for-profit non-governmental organization providing free services, and
its commitment to transparency, PCHR considers this report an obligation to
Palestinian society.