On August 8th 2017, representatives of a number of coalitions of civil society institutions, and
NGO’s, trade unions and political parties gathered in the wake of an urgent call by Al-Haq for
human rights to discuss the expansion of the adoption of emergent legislation which concludes
violations against the basic human rights and the serious deterioration of human rights
situation.
The participants have discussed the measures taken by the Palestinian Authority against the
Gaza Strip, regarding the independence of the judiciary and the interference of the judiciary
and the stress accompanied to the work of the Constitutional Court.
The meeting also recommended expanding the emergency legislations to include electronic
crimes, as well as the High Criminal Court, the unprecedented interference of the security
authorities in the civil life, accompanied by regulations and measurements to restrict the work
of the NGO’s, in addition to the practices of political detention and restrictions on the right to
freedom of opinion and expression and the detention of journalists in the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip.
The participants agreed that this serious deterioration constitutes a serious violation of the
rights and public freedoms mentioned in the international covenants which the Palestinian
state has joined to, with the devastating repercussions on the Palestinian case in fighting the
occupation. Moreover, the participants agreed on a series of steps towards expanding the
discussion circle among various components of civil society and taking social and professional
steps aims to put an end to this state of deterioration.
