7/11/2012
29/2012
The Independent Commission for Human Rights is gravely concerned over the assault on the peaceful women’s protest which was organized by the General Union of the Palestinian Women and other women’s organizations in the Unknown Soldier Square in Gaza to push relevant parties to end the national divide.
According to the statements given to the ICHR, at 12:00 pm, Tuesday 6\11\2012, police and security forces with plain clothes attacked a peaceful women’s assembly and prohibited a protest sit-in in the city of Gaza.
ICHR believes that such measures contradict the spirit of the Palestinian basic law of which article (26) stipulates that “private assemblies should be held without the presence of the police and that those public assemblies and gatherings should be held in accordance with the law”. Article (2) of the Palestinian law of public assemblies number (12) of 1998, affirms that the citizens should have the right to organizing public assemblies, symposiums and marches freely without restrictions in accordance with the provisions of the law.
Paragraph (A) of article (4) states that “a notification in writing should be forwarded by the organizers of the assembly who should be not less than (3); it should include where and when and why the assembly should be held”.
The assault of the police and security force on the participants in that protest contradicts with the international conventions namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which confirms that “every person is entitled to the right of participating in peaceful assemblies and associations”.
ICHR expresses its concern over ongoing infringement of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. It also affirms that this right is guaranteed under the Palestinian basic law and the Palestinian public assemblies’ law besides international conventions of human rights. Furthermore, it demands the government in Gaza to investigate that assault through a neutral independent inquiry committee and to ensure that the findings of this impartial investigation are available to the public.
