Tehran: The United States is actively working to dismantle the system of international justice designed to address ‘the planet’s worst crimes’ through a set of measures including those against Palestinian human rights groups. That’s according to an opinion published by American daily, The New York Times.
According to Islamic Republic News Agency, the article, published Wednesday, was penned by Ms. Agn¨s Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, and Mr. Federico Borello, the acting executive director of Human Rights Watch. Both groups are leading international human rights institutions.
The authors refer to the sanctions the administration of US President Donald Trump have imposed on leading Palestinian human rights organizations, namely Al Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and Addameer, all engaged in documenting human rights violations against Palestinians.
The authors said that the Palestinian organizations have continued their work despite all the hardships they face, including the war in Gaza, arguing that the US sanctions against them ‘will not only disrupt the critical work that they are still able to do but also send a chilling signal to human rights defenders whose work implicates powerful actors or their allies.’
‘Our organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have worked closely with these groups for decades and, consistent with our longstanding and independent mandates to speak out in protecting human rights, we can attest that their work is indispensable to the human rights community not only in the region but internationally,’ the authors said of the Palestinian organizations.
They believe that the sanctions against those organizations are part of ‘a broader Trump administration effort aimed at those who support justice for Palestinians’, noting that the groups had helped the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation of Israel over its crimes against Palestinians.
According to the article, the ICC itself was targeted by the Trump administration as well, as sanctions were placed against several of the court’s officials.
‘Beyond what has been done to the Palestinians, the Trump administration has undermined the rule of law, protection of human rights and international justice, which all lie at the heart of a rules-based global order,’ the article read, naming several cases that ‘downgraded America’s commitment to human rights,’ including slashing funds to the United Nations, disengaging from the UN Human Rights Council, and terminating nearly all US foreign aid.
‘A credible system of international justice that addresses genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity is an essential element of building respect for human rights,’ wrote the authors, saying that the ICC is a central pillar of that system, which was established following governments’ intention to deliver on the post-World War II promise of ‘never again.’
‘Further sanctions or other actions by the United States, including extending sanctions to the court as a whole, would jeopardize the rights of victims across the globe. Governments should rise to the occasion to protect the system they created,’ read the article, criticizing what it described as ‘a flawed strategy’ by some governments to balance their reactions to the US sanctions for fear of ‘provoking the Trump administration.’