Ref: 06/2020

On Tuesday, 18 February 2020, Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), received Robin Wettlaufer, Representative of Canada to the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Andrea Niklaus, First Secretary and Political and Trade Officer in the Canadian Representative Office in Ramallah, at PCHR’s head office in Gaza City.

The human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and the Israeli war crimes committed against Palestinian civilians and their properties were at the heart of the discussion, especially the Israeli-imposed closure on the Gaza Strip and its economic, social and humanitarian consequences on over 2 million Palestinians.

The meeting also addressed the decision of the Public Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the Situation in Palestine, and referring the situation in Palestine to the Pre-Trial Chamber for a decision on the Court’s territorial jurisdiction. Sourani stressed that this step is vital for Palestinian victims’ access to justice and redress especially that the Israeli judicial system systematically failed them.

Sourani also discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian judiciary, highlighting the ongoing divide within the judicial itself and the continued attempts by the executive authority to control it and undermine its independence both in the West Bank and in Gaza Strip.

The meeting also addressed the latest developments relevant to the general elections in the PNA, meetings and dialogues between Palestinian stakeholders that culminated in a  national consensus to hold elections as soon as possible. Sourani laid out the Israeli obstacles imposed on Palestinians participation in elections in occupied East Jerusalem.

The meeting also addressed the uptick in PA restrictions on the work of civil society organizations, including non-profit companies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; as well as, the continued Israeli attacks on Palestinian civil society organizations to delegitimize them and dry their funding resources.