Freedom of movement has always been an issue for Palestinians living under occupation or as refugees. Whether in Gaza under Israel’s blockade and closure policy, in refugee camps in Lebanon without full rights, or in the West Bank living with checkpoints and the need for registrations and permits.
In recent months there have been increasing restrictions to travel for Palestinians, both internally through checkpoints, and externally for education or conferences. It is partly for this reason that MAP attended the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in March, bringing updated testimonies of people who had lost family members in attacks on ambulances in 2014, had seen their children denied medical care for hours at checkpoints or witnessed their hospital crumble into dust under missile fire. It is to help these people have access to justice and accountability, and to prevent the recurrence of future attacks of this kind that the Human Rights Council exists.
The Human Rights Council was established on 15th March 2006 following widespread recognition that, amongst other issues, the existing UN human rights structure was not delivering change for people in the situations being addressed. Over the course of ten years the Council has passed hundreds of resolutions and statements addressing hundreds of countries or issues. On the ten year anniversary of this mechanism it is important to reflect on how these have affected the people living with the violations which have been raised.
MAP have engaged with the Council many times during the past ten years, but never more so than in the past twelve months. During this time we have worked with Palestinian and Israeli partners to advocate for language in resolutions around ambulance access through checkpoints[1], the establishment of accountability mechanisms for violations in Gaza in 2014[2] and a range of other issues. At the last session, which concluded at the end of last month, MAP presented the findings from two new pieces of research. One with Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights and the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, updating on the cases raised in our 2015 No More Impunity report, and the other with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, with data from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society on delays and obstructions to ambulance access through checkpoints and attacks on medical personnel – Healthcare denied.
Again, as in March 2015, MAP advocated for strong language in a resolution highlighting issues around ambulance access and the right to health[3], and also supported efforts towards the establishment of an accountability mechanism for violations in Gaza[4] and the appointment of the new Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory. In the context of this work these are successes, but they only mean something if the language on paper translates into tangible change for Palestinians.
Eighty seven percent of Member States of the Human Rights Council voted to support language setting out the importance of unhindered ambulance access at checkpoints in the 2015 resolution mentioned above. However, during one three month period in 2015 (October – December) the Palestinian Red Crescent documented one hundred and twenty three incidents where ambulance access was completely denied and, even for emergency patients permitted through checkpoints via ‘back-to-back’ transfers (see our factsheet for further information), the average delay at a checkpoint was 27 minutes – a dangerous length of time for an emergency cardiac or high-risk pregnancy patient, for example. These processes and the delays they cause are having a clear detrimental effect on the health of Palestinians, with very little public outcry from the international community despite credible documentation and existing UN resolutions on this issue.
After another Human Rights Council session we have another set of resolutions with ambitious initiatives to attempt to improve conditions for Palestinians. MAP will continue to engage on these issues, raising them in every forum available to us, but it won’t matter how many resolutions, statements or declarations are supported by the international community unless we achieve real and lasting change for Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees.
[1] Stresses the need for the unhindered passage of ambulances at checkpoints, especially in times of conflict; [A/HRC/28/L.34]
[2] http://map-uk.org/news/archive/post/292 and http://map-uk.org/news/archive/post/291
[3] Reiterates the responsibility of Israel, the occupying Power, to respect the right to health of all persons within the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to facilitate access of medical supplies and medical practitioners to all areas under occupation, including the Gaza Strip, and stresses the need for the unhindered passage of ambulances at checkpoints, especially in times of conflict; [A/HRC/31/L.37]
[4] A/HRC/31/L.38