[Pnews] Appeal to UN on the Situation of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons amidst Concerns over COVID-19 Exposure

[Prisoner News]

http://www.addameer.org/news/addameer-and-al-haq-send-appeal-un-special-procedures-situation-palestinian-prisoners-israeli 



  Addameer and Al-Haq Send Appeal to UN Special Procedures on the
  Situation of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons amidst Concerns
  over COVID-19 Exposure

April 1, 2020

*Addameer and Al-Haq Send Appeal to UN Special Procedures on the 
Situation of **Palestinian Prisoners in**Israeli Prisons amidst 
**Concerns over COVID-19 Exposure*

Date: 1 April 2020

On 1 April 2020, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association 
and Al-Haq sent a joint urgent appeal to the United Nations (UN) Special 
Procedures regarding the rapidly deteriorating condition of Palestinian 
prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons in light of the continued 
spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Palestine and 
around the world. Addressed to five Special Procedures mandates, 
including the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in 
the occupied Palestinian territory, the organisations urgently requested 
intervention to uphold the right to health, safety, and well-being of 
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention, particularly as many are 
minors, chronically ill, vulnerable groups, or held under administrative 
detention in contravention of international law.

In early March 2020, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) halted all family 
and lawyers’ visits for prisoners, citing this measure as a COVID-19 
precaution. Furthermore, Palestinian prisoners face dismal detention 
conditions in Israeli prisons, including overcrowding, unsanitary 
conditions, lack of proper ventilation, and poor nutrition. These make 
Israeli prisons dangerous breeding grounds for a COVID-19 outbreak and 
compound the vulnerability of Palestinian prisoners. In particular, IPS 
officers are not taking necessary precautions, as they continue to 
conduct daily searches and prisoner counts without wearing hazmat suits, 
protective gloves, or face masks.

Around the world, UN experts have highlighted the need to ensure the 
release of political prisoners as well as other detainees in response to 
the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 March 2020, the UN High Commissioner for 
Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stated: “[n]ow, more than ever, 
governments should release every person detained without sufficient 
legal basis, including political prisoners and others detained simply 
for expressing critical or dissenting views.”[1] Accordingly, Addameer 
and Al-Haq urged the UN Special Procedures to intervene to guarantee the 
health and safety of Palestinian prisoners during the pandemic, and to:

 1. Call on Israel, the occupying power, to release all Palestinian
    political prisoners from Israeli prisons to ensure their safety from
    an uncontrolled COVID-19 spread, particularly those who are more
    vulnerable and more susceptible to the disease, including children,
    women, older persons, prisoners with underlying health conditions,
    and injured prisoners;
 2. Further demand the release of all Palestinian political prisoners
    under administrative detention, who are detained indefinitely
    without charge or trial, in contravention of international law, and
    urge the release of all Palestinian political prisoners who are
    nearing the end of their sentences and/or should be released on
    probation, to reduce overcrowding in Israeli prisons;
 3. Call on IPS to ensure the protection of all prisoners and uphold
    their right to the highest attainable standard of health without
    discrimination, by adopting the latest WHO guidance on preventing
    COVID-19 outbreak in prisons,[2] and taking the necessary measures
    to prevent the spread of the pandemic in Israeli prisons; and
 4. Urge IPS to install landlines in Israeli prisons and ensure the
    maintenance of family contacts for Palestinian prisoners through
    unmonitored phone or video calls between the prisoners and their
    families, especially while family visits continue to be suspended.

To read the urgent appeal sent by Addameer and Al-Haq to the UN Special 
Procedures on 1 April 2020, see *_here_* 
<http://www.addameer.org/sites/default/files/upload/addameer_and_al-haq_urgent_appeal_to_un_special_procedures_on_palestinian_prisoners_during_covid-19_1_april_2020.pdf>.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20200402/329d24d7/attachment.htm>