CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations (CSOs) and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world. Founded in 1993, we proudly promote marginalised voices, especially from the Global South, and have members in more than 170 countries throughout the world.
1.2 Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) is a coordination body for the NGO sector in Palestine with the purpose of strengthening Palestinian civil society and contributing to the establishment of the Palestinian state based on the principles of democracy, social justice, rule of law, tolerance, and respect of human rights through networking, building-up the capacity of NGOs, developing information management centers and mainstreaming societal concerns into public policies, plans and programs.
1.3 The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) is a regional network organisation and aims at enhancing and strengthening civil society advocacy on social and economic policy-making processes. Based in Beirut, Lebanon, ANND works in 12 Arab countries with an extended membership of 250 CSOs.
1.4 In this document, CIVICUS, PNGO and ANND examine the Government of Israel’s compliance with its international human rights obligations to create and maintain a safe and enabling environment for civil society. Specifically, we analyse Israel’s fulfillment of the rights to freedom of association, assembly, and expression and
unwarranted restrictions on human rights defenders (HRDs) since its previous UPR examination on 29 October 2013. To this end, we assess the Government of Israel’s implementation of recommendations received during the 2nd UPR cycle relating to
these issues and provide a number of specific, action-orientated follow-up recommendations.
1.5 During the 2nd UPR cycle, Israel received seven recommendations relating to civic space. Of these recommendations, one was accepted and six were noted. An evaluation of a range of legal sources and human rights documentation addressed in subsequent sections of this submission demonstrate that the Government of Israel has not implemented any of the recommendations relating to civil society space. The government has persistently failed to address restrictions on civic space since its last UPR examination and acute implementation gaps were found on the rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
1.6 CIVICUS, PNGO and ANND are particularly concerned by violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by the Government of Israel in 2017 that marks 50 years of occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Worryingly, the Government of Israel has repeatedly failed to implement the vast majority of recommendations introduced by international human rights bodies to
address the unwarranted and systematic violations of fundamental democratic freedoms in Israel and the OPT.
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This report is part of UPR Submissions on Israeli Violations of Human Rights report
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