RAMALLAH, The State of Palestine is deeply alarmed by the undeserved election of Israel, the occupying Power, to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Committee on NGOs, today said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.
“The State of Palestine notes with disappointment that Israel’s nomination by the Western Europe group will serve to encourage it to continue and escalate its systematic assaults and criminal attacks on Palestinian human rights and humanitarian civil society organizations, and by extension on the international human rights movement and human rights defenders worldwide,” it said.
“Israel’s presence on this Committee is an affront to the functions and principles of the Committee. Its presence undermines the role of United Nations as both a gatekeeper of NGOs and a safe space for all NGOs committed to the principles of the rules-based order.”
The Foreign Ministry added: “No doubt, Israel will view this nomination and resulting position as an endorsement of its hostility and aggression against civil society, including its recent witch-hunt against six leading Palestinian human rights organizations, the detention of human rights defenders, obstructing the work of United Nations agencies, and the expulsion of others.
“Western countries nominated and endorsed a country that criminalizes documentation and advocacy, targets humanitarian aid and legal work, including with the United Nations and its different agencies, and spends money on the systematic smearing of and incitement against human rights defenders. They chose to normalize criminality and impunity. It is a scandal.”
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency