UN Experts Urge States to Allow Pro-Palestine Protests Amid Israeli Atrocities
UN special rapporteurs, issued a joint statement on Tuesday, denouncing the excessive restrictions that some states have imposed on civil society activists who are advocating for human rights and international humanitarian law in the context of the Gaza war.
The statement highlighted that such actions contravene states' obligations to prevent genocide and atrocities under international law.
“As the international community takes steps towards negotiating a cease-fire that will end brutal hostilities in Gaza and deliver accountability for atrocities committed in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, we urge States to respect and enable the rights of everyone to freedom of peaceful assembly, of association and of expression,” it said, Anadolu Agency reported.
The statement also stressed the need for states to ensure that their efforts to counter terrorism, hate speech and antisemitism do not lead to excessive restrictions and reprisals against protesters.
Read More:
"Allowing peaceful protests is crucial for achieving a cease-fire in Gaza and ending atrocities against the Palestinian people and serious human rights violations," the statement said.
UN special rapporteurs are part of the special mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.
The special mechanisms are independent experts who collect and monitor information on specific country situations or thematic issues anywhere in the world as part of the Council's work.
Read More:
Israel launched the war on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance groups conducted the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation.
The regime has killed at least 28,000 people, the majority of whom women and children, in Gaza ever since. Over 68,000 people have also been injured.
Source: Agencies
