Middle East Monitor / August 13, 2021
UN human rights experts today called on the Israeli government to immediately return confidential documents and office equipment its military seized from the offices of an NGO fighting for children’s rights in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu Agency reports.
“We are deeply concerned by the Israeli military’s interference with the human rights work of a well-known and well-regarded NGO,” said the experts.
Computers, hard drives, binders, and other materials were taken from the offices of the Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) in Al-Bireh during a night-time raid at the end of July.
The experts are Michael Lynk, special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory; Irene Khan, special rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression; Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, special rapporteur on peaceful assembly; and Mary Lawlor, special rapporteur on human rights defenders.
“The indispensable work of Palestinian, Israeli, and international civil society organizations has provided a measure of much-needed accountability in documenting and scrutinizing the dispiriting human rights trends in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the experts said.
