Johannesburg, 31 January 2013: Global civil society network, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation deplores Israel's failure to participate in the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and urges the Government of Israel to take immediate steps to restore its relations with the UN Human Rights Council.
Israel's refusal to participate in its UPR examination scheduled for 29 January 2013 marks the first instance of a UN member state declining to engage with the UN Human Rights Council on its human rights record since the UPR procedure was established in 2008. The UPR process provides a key opportunity for civil society to raise human rights concerns in a country with the national government as well as with the international community.
The current action of the Israeli government follows its March 2012 decision to sever ties with the UN Human Rights Council after a resolution (A/HRC/19.L.35) was adopted to establish an international fact finding mission to investigate the implications of Israeli settlements on the rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories. All UN member states are obligated to participate in the Universal Periodic Review, which scrutinizes each country's human rights record every four years.
"Israel's decision to cease cooperating with the UPR severely undermines the universality of the mechanism and could herald an alarming trend wherein states increasingly refuse to participate in the process to avoid scrutiny of their human rights records," said Mandeep Tiwana, Policy and Advocacy Manager at CIVICUS. "The international community must take strong, proactive measures to ensure that Israel is brought back to the table."
In light of Israel's absence during the UPR examination, the UN Human Rights Council issued a decision on 29 January 2013 requesting its President, Remigiusz Henczel to take all appropriate measures to encourage the Government of Israel to resume cooperation with the UPR. While Israel has not committed to respecting the Council's decision, the Council has rescheduled Israel's examination for the 17th Session of the Working Group of the UPR scheduled to take place from 21 October – 1 November 2013.
"The Israeli government's refusal to cooperate with the UPR mechanism comes in the wake of serious and continued restrictions on the free exercise of key fundamental freedoms enshrined in international treaties to which Israel is a party," said Tor Hodenfield, Policy and Advocacy Officer at CIVICUS.
Of critical concern is the continued invocation of repressive legislation to silence independent dissent and civil society voices in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The Boycott Prohibition Law makes it a civil offence to call for a cultural, economic or academic boycott of Israel and gives affected groups the right to sue those calling for a boycott. The Budget Foundations Law allows the Minister of Finance to cut state funding to schools, cultural and academic institutions that organise protests against the Israeli state. Military Order 1651 and the 2005 Internment of Unlawful Combatants Act, which have been invoked against journalists and civil society activists, allow the military to hold prisoners on the basis of secret information indefinitely without trial.
CIVICUS calls on the Government of Israel to uphold its obligations to the international community set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251 establishing the UN Human Rights Council by: (i) immediately resuming relations with the UN Human Rights Council, (ii) withdrawing its decision to suspend participation with the UPR process, and (iii) fully cooperating with the UN Human Rights Council President to facilitate Israel's examination during the 17th Session of the Working Group of the Universal Periodic Review.