|
On
this
World
Refugee
Day,
BADIL
and
COHRE
announce
here
the
results
of
proceedings
before
the
UN
Human
Rights
Council
Complaints
Procedure,
in
which
international
justice
has
failed
petitioners
seeking
due
restitution
of
land,
housing
and
property.
In
so
doing,
BADIL
and
COHRE
reaffirm
that
accountability
must
replace
impunity
–
also
in
the
case
of
Israel
and
the
Palestinian
people,
in
particular
Palestinian
refugees
and
internally
displaced
persons
(IDPs).
In
2007,
after
extensive
efforts
to
secure
justice
in
Israel,
persons
representing
dispossessed
Palestinian
persons
and
communities
filed
a
petition
under
the
confidential
“1503”
mechanism,
providing
a
complaint
procedure
to
the
Human
Rights
Council.
The
petition
concerned
members
of
the
Palestinian
communities
of (i)
Kafr
Bir'im,
a
village
near
the
Lebanese
border,
forcibly
removed
from
their
land
in
1948,
and
(ii)
Arab
as-Subeih,
a
Bedouin
community
in
the
Naqab/Negev
whose
land
had
been
progressively
seized
by
Israeli
authorities
over
a
number
of
decades.
These
acts
of
dispossession
continue
to
today.
At
issue
in
the
petition
are
circa
5000
persons.
The
petitioners
were
represented
by a
team
of
lawyers,
BADIL
and
the
Centre
on
Housing
Rights
and
Evictions
(COHRE).
On
the
eve
of
World
Refugee
Day,
the
petitioners
learned
that
their
appeal
was
no
longer
under
consideration
by
the
responsible
working
group
of
the
UN
human
rights
office
(OHCHR).
They
were
also
informed
that
no
reasons
would
be
given
for
why
their
case
was
dropped,
or
why
the
very
evident
fundamental
rights
matters
at
issue
would
not
be
considered
by
the
UN’s
premiere
human
rights
body.
Palestinians
forcibly
removed
from
their
land
in
1948
are
barred
from
return
and
restitution
under
Israeli
law.
They
lack
access
to
effective
and
adequate
remedies
via
courts
in
Israel
or
elsewhere.
On
World
Refugee
Day,
and
while
the
UN
celebrates
the
60th
anniversary
of
the
Universal
Declaration
of
Human
Rights,
the
message
conveyed
to
displaced
and
dispossessed
Palestinians
is
that
no
one
is
accountable
for
the
systematic
violations
their
fundamental
human
rights
by
Israel.
In
the
case
of
Israel,
the
international
community
has
failed
for
sixty
years
to
recognize
and
respond
to
Israel's
policy
of
forcibly
transferring
Palestinians
from
their
land,
barring
return
and
restitution,
and
then
developing
such
land
for
the
exclusive
benefit
of
the
Jewish
population.
The
consequences
are
ongoing
forced
displacement
of
Palestinians
in
Israel
and
the
1967
Occupied
Palestinian
Territory
(OPT),
more
Jewish
colonization
of
Palestinian
land
and
the
entrenchment
of
an
apartheid-like
regime
over
the
Palestinian
people,
the
lack
of
durable
solutions
and
effective
remedies
for
refugees
and
IDPs,
and
a
growing
population
of
displaced
and
stateless
Palestinians.
On
this
World
Refugee
Day,
approximately
70
percent
of
the
Palestinian
people
are
refugees
and/or
IDPs,
including
an
estimated
115,000
IDPs
generated
since
1967
by
Israel's
colonization
of
the
OPT.
All
of
them
commemorate
in
2008
the
60th
anniversary
of
the
Palestinian
Nakba
(catastrophe),
i.e.
the
ongoing
forced
displacement
and
dispossession
of
the
Palestinian
people
and
the
destruction
of
their
society
and
communities.
BADIL
and
COHRE
deplore
the
failure
of
the
UN
human
rights
machinery
to
facilitate
justice
in
the
case
of
the
petition
concerning
the
dispossession
of
the
inhabitants
of
Kafr
Bir'im
and
Arab
as-Subeih.
BADIL
and
COHRE
call
upon
civil
society,
governments
and
the
United
Nations
to
undertake
any
and
all
effective,
legal
measures
to
ensure
that
Palestinians
finally
enjoy
effective
restitution
of
property,
housing
and
land,
as
is
their
right
under
international
law.
-------------------------------
Further
information
on
the
“1503”
procedure,
which
since
18
June
2007
is
now
the
“Human
Rights
Council
Complaints
Procedure”
is
available
at:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/complaints.htm
Further
information
on
the
BADIL/COHRE
Council
Complaint
is
available
at:
http://www.cohre.org/Israel |
