Center for Constitutional Rights Issues Statement in Response to Intensified Attacks Against Al-Haq

March 7, 2016, New York – In response to reports from our allies at the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq that members of their staff have been receiving death threats and that the organization itself is under intensified attacks, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:

“It is likely no coincidence that death threats against members of Al-Haq have escalated since they joined with other Palestinian human rights organizations to submit information about the 2014 Gaza attacks to the International Criminal Court: their efforts to break the long cycle of impunity for Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians have clearly struck a nerve. We condemn all attempts to silence or undermine the work of this important civil society organization and call on those behind the attacks to stop immediately.  CCR stands in solidarity with Al-Haq, and we urge the international community to take measures with all relevant authorities to ensure its staff and partners are protected.”

Last November, Al-Haq delivered a confidential communication to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor (ICC) on behalf of Palestinian civilian victims of Israel’s military attacks in Gaza in the summer of 2014 and, in February, submitted a confidential follow-up report focusing on the crimes committed in Rafah. The 51-day offensive killed over 1,500 civilians, including more than 500 children. Al-Haq submitted the documents, along with the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Aldameer, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and with the legal support of New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. Al-Haq’s general director and the organization’s representative before the ICC in The Hague have received death threats over the past few weeks. Al-Haq issued a statement in which it said that it is “convinced that the source of these attacks, as the case was in previous years, is the Israeli side.”