FIDH: International Federation of Human Rights (Paris)
Profile
Country/Territory | France |
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Website | http://www.fidh.org/ |
Founded | 1922, by 20 national French and German organizations as the “first international human rights organization.” |
In their own words | “Peace for human rights.” |
Funding
- In 2022, total income was €8.9 million; total expenses were €8.8 million.
- Donors include: European Union, Finland, Sweden, Norway, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Switzerland, Bread for the World (Germany), Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Sigrid Rausing Trust (U.K.), Ford Foundation, and Open Society Foundation.
- (See table below for further funding information.)
- In 2023-2027, the EU is granting €5 million to FIDH for “Supporting FIDH to empower member CSOs as actor of change for human rights.”
- In February 2024, France (AFD) authorized a €8.3 million grant to the FIDH. According to the description of the four-year project (“Strengthening the intervention of the FIDH network to increase the power to act of local human rights defenders and CSOs [Civil Society Organizations]”), FIDH will provide funding to 22 NGO partners, including Al-Haq, a leader in anti-Israel lawfare and BDS campaigns. On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
- The program’s expected results include:
- “The voice of HRDs [Human Rights Defenders] and local CSOs defending human rights is amplified among inter-governmental, diplomatic and economic institutions and the visibility of FIDH’s fights in matters of HR is reinforced.”
- “Local CSOs defending HR, members and partners, have access to supportive, flexible and adapted support, allowing them to strengthen their power of action in the face of the shrinking space for Civil Society (110 local CSOs (58 % of FIDH MOs) are supported via flexible grants, missions, training).”
- The program’s expected results include:
- In 2020-2023, France and Germany (BMZ) are providing FIDH with €900,000 and €511,065 respectively via the German NGO Bread for the World for a project on “Human Rights and Globalization.”
- Al-Haq is listed as one of the implementing partners. On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
- In 2022-2027, FIDH is receiving €30 million from the European Union for a project titled “The European Union human rights defenders mechanism.”
- In 2018-2023, FIDH received $490,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for its “Middle East and North Africa work.”
Activities
- The organization, headquartered in Paris, is composed of 184 member organizations throughout the world. FIDH facilitates coordination between its member organizations, supports their activities, and mobilizes them for a variety of campaigns.
- FIDH focuses on “three pillars of action” including “securing the freedom and capacity to act for human rights defenders, the universality of rights and their effectiveness.”
- FIDH engages in “lawfare,” supports BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, and abuses its reputation as a human rights organization to condemn Israel in a variety of international forums.
- FIDH accuses Israel of “collective punishment,” “war crimes,” and “crimes against humanity.”
- In August 2016, Shawan Jabarin (General Director of Al Haq) was elected as FIDH’s Secretary General. Jabarin has been denied exit visas for Israel and Jordan on several occasions due to his alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, Canada, and Israel. (Click here to read a translation of the decision by the Israeli High Court of Justice, June 20, 2007.)
- FIDH Vice President Alexis Deswaef is also an Administrator of Al-Haq Europe. Deswaef refers to PFLP-linked Al-Haq Director Shawan Jabarin as a “brother” and the “lion of Ramallah.”
- FIDH partners with highly politicized NGOs working in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. (See below for further information regarding FIDH members.)
Political Advocacy
- Created the “Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders” with the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) to “offer concrete and personalised assistance via international fact-finding missions, judicial observation and support missions, solidarity missions, and the granting of material assistance to defenders and defender organisations.”
- This has included calling on Israel to lift the travel ban placed on Al Haq General Director Shawan Jabarin, who has alleged ties to the PFLP terrorist organization, and campaigning to cancel the deportation order against Human Rigths Watch’s Omar Shakir, who is a consistent supporter of a one-state framework and an advocate for BDS against Israel.
- In July 2024, FIDH sent a letter to the president of the International Olympic Committee calling to “suspend Israel from participating, especially while it continues its genocidal actions in Gaza, illegal occupation and violates the rights of the Palestinian people elsewhere, including their right to self-determination.”
- In November 2023, FIDH passed a resolution headlined, “Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide and other crimes in Gaza and against the Palestinian People.” (Read NGO Monitor’s analysis, “FIDH Declares Total Political War Against Israel”)
- In October 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, FIDH published a statement claiming, “The cycle of violence is a predictable result of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime that has lasted too long despite calls and warnings issued by human rights organizations and United Nations mechanisms…FIDH recalls that as long as the international community refuses to address the root causes of the ongoing hostilities, no just and lasting peace will ever be achieved… Israel’s apartheid regime, established and maintained through maintaining a system of inherently discriminatory laws, policies and practices, is premised on the perpetual denial of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination and return.”
- In May 2023, FIDH published an article titled, “Israeli Apartheid – The Legacy of the Ongoing Nakba at 75.” According to the article, “The crimes of the Nakba, including the ethnic cleansing and expulsion of Palestinian refugees, extensive destruction of Palestinian property, mass killing, and the prolonged denial of Palestinian refugees’ right to return, have never been prosecuted or remedied…There are many possible paths to a just future, but none should be based on permanent occupation, settler colonialism, and the domination and oppression by one group of people over another. Apartheid has no place in our world and Israel’s apartheid must be dismantled now.”
- In April 2023, FIDH was a signatory on a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General urging the UN to reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. According to the letter, the IHRA definition “opens the door to labeling as antisemitic… findings of major Israeli, Palestinian and global human rights organizations that Israeli authorities are committing the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.”
- The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, adopted by nearly 30 countries and counting, represents the international consensus definition of antisemitism, as well as how to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. An example of the latter includes denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- In September 2022, FIDH published a statement that “European governments should demonstrate their unwillingness to compromise on their stated values, place human rights at the center of their Israel and Palestine policy and end all activities that contribute to apartheid and further repression of the Palestinian people. Overall, all states should make clear that they will impose meaningful consequences on the Israeli government should it fail to reverse course.”
- In August 2022, FIDH signed a joint statement condemning the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. The statement called for the international community to “take effective measures to end all other actions that deny Palestinians their inalienable human rights” and to “their support and increase funding to the organizations and engage with financial institutions to ensure the transfer of funds to the organizations.”
- In October 2021, FIDH condemned the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs, including FIDH’s member Al-Haq, as terrorist organizations. According to FIDH, “These baseless claims by the Israeli government need to be recognized for what they are: a smoke screen aimed at the public and the international community to cover up the essential work carried out by these human rights groups which denounce Israel’s violations of fundamental rights and of international law.”
- In October 2021, FIDH called to “unconditionally release” Health Work Committees (HWC) General Director Shatha Odeh and “ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without any hindrance and fear of reprisals.”
- On July 7, 2021, Israel arrested Odeh for her alleged involvement in terror activity. Following her arrest, the IDF closed HWC’s offices for six months.
- Numerous HWC staff members, founders, board members, general assembly members, and senior staff members have ties to the PFLP terror group. For more information on HWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Health Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
- In June 2021, FIDH signed a letter to the European Commission regarding the “political instrumentalization of the fight against antisemitism.” The letter called to “Acknowledge, reject and counter the political instrumentalization of the fight against antisemitism and of the IHRA definition in particular for the purpose of shielding the Israeli government from criticism. Instruct all involved EU officials to refrain from facilitating and legitimizing such instrumentalization.”
- The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, adopted by nearly 30 countries and counting, represents the international consensus definition of antisemitism, as well as how to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. An example of the latter includes denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- In April 2021, FIDH published a statement that the “international community must hold Israel responsible for its crimes of apartheid.” According to FIDH, “Since 2013, FIDH has sounded the alarm on the crime of apartheid perpetrated by Israel…FIDH is calling for investigation, in addition to war crimes, of all the facts, laws and practices testifying to the crime of apartheid.”
- In December 2020, FIDH “condemned the detention” of Khitam Al-Saafin and called for the European Union to “Ensure Israel’s immediate release of Palestinian human rights defender Khitam Al- Saafin.”
- Khitam Saafin is the president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), a Palestinian NGO identified by Fatah as an official “affiliate” and by USAID as the “women’s organization” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
- In November 2020, FIDH published a press release falsely claiming that the IHRA definition “seeks to suppress activism and public speech promoting Palestinian freedoms and rights as well as critical assessments of Israel’s policies.” According to FIDH, “These actions constitute not only an attack on Palestinians’ rights but also the rights of people and organisations in the US and worldwide that stand in solidarity with Palestinians.”
- The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, adopted by nearly 30 countries and counting, represents the international consensus definition of antisemitism, as well as how to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. An example of the latter includes denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- In July 2020, FIDH was a signatory on an urgent appeal to the United Nations referring to Israel’s alleged “shoot-to-kill policy” as “contributing to the maintenance of Israel’s apartheid regime of systematic racial oppression and domination over the Palestinian people as a whole, which, embedded in a system of impunity, prevents Palestinians from effectively challenging Israel’s apartheid policies and practices.”
- In May 2019, FIDH was a signatory on a statement referring to all of Jerusalem as “occupied,” and called for the UN to “take a firm stand against…unlawful unilateral measures to be taken by the U.S. in favor of an unveiled attempt at legitimizing Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, occupation and colonization.” The statement further called to “Ban Israeli settlement products” and “Impose individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, on individuals that are identified as responsible for or complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
- In October 2018, FIDH “welcome[d]” and “thank[ed] all individuals, organisations and institutions who intervened” in the release of PFLP “comrade” Salah Hamouri who was arrested in August 2017. Hamouri was previously arrested for “attempting to assassinate Ovadia Yosef…and for his involvement with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.” Until his arrest, he worked for the Palestinian NGO Addameer, an organization that is identified by Fatah as an official PFLP “affiliate.”
- In May 2018, FIDH signed on a call to the UN Human Rights Council to launch an “independent investigation into violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Israel” in response to Gaza-border violence. The call accuses Israel of “excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of lethal force… [that] may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity” (emphasis added). The call ignored the violent nature of the protests, which included Molotov cocktails, arson, and attempts to breach the border fence with Israel.
- In December 2017, following President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, FIDH published a statement saying that the “US gives another blank check to Israel and its occupation and violation of Palestinians’ fundamental rights, notably their right to self-determination.”
- In June 2017, to mark the “50th Anniversary of Israel’s Military Occupation of the West Bank,” FIDH was a signatory on a call that accused Israel of “colonization and apartheid” and “systematic violations of human rights, many of which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
- In November 2015, in the midst of a wave of terrorism against Israeli civilians that included stabbings, shootings, and car rammings, FIDH and Al Haq wrote a joint letter to the European Union Foreign Affairs Ministers, condemning Israel’s security responses, and drawing attention to Israel’s “colonist enterprise” and called on them to “bring Israel’s unabated violations and occupation to an end.”
- In December 2014, called on Members of the European Parliament to vote in favor of the recognition of the state of Palestine.
Lawfare
- FIDH is active in attempts to bring “war crimes” cases against Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC), including submitting case files following the 2009 Gaza conflict and a letter to President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas encouraging him to ratify the Rome Statute.
- In July 2024, following the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the “legal consequences arising from Israel’s Policies and Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, FIDH published an article calling on states to “implement the court’s recommendations, including halting trade with all Israeli settlements and refusing to legitimise the occupation…targeted sanctions against businesses involved in the occupation and officials responsible for planning and executing the colonisation of Palestinian lands.”
- In October 2023, FIDH was a signatory on a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to “Issue Arrest Warrants, Investigate Israeli Crimes and Intervene to Deter Incitement to Commit Genocide in Gaza.”
- In May 2024, FIDH published a statement “welcom[ing] the ICC Prosecutor’s historic requests for arrest warrants in the Palestine situation.” According to FIDH, “The ICC must take into account this long documented history of human rights violations within the context of its investigation and prosecution. Many crimes fall within the Court’s jurisdiction: crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2014.”
- On November 28, 2022, FIDH and 197 other regional and international civil society organizations sent an open letter to the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan urging him to “Investigate and Deter Israel’s Apartheid Regime.” According to the letter, “Though mindful of the Court’s limited resources and budgetary complications, as well as your office workload and challenges, we are compelled to stress that Palestinian victims deserve justice and require equal attention as in other situations…we will continue our cooperation with your office and our support of your investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine.”
- In May 2022, together with the Center for Constitutional Rights, FIDH filed a submission from Addameer field researcher and lawyer Salah Hamouri urging the ICC to “prioritize this investigation, with adequate resources and meaningful victim participation, with a view to moving towards the issuance of arrest warrants against those who bear the greatest responsibility for the long-running war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinian civilians – a protected population – without further delay.” (See more on Hamouri above.)
- According to FIDH, “we urge the ICC Prosecutor to take active and concrete investigative steps in order to break the cycle of impunity for perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Palestine, including East Jerusalem.”
- In September 2022, as a member of the Don’t Buy Into Occupation campaign, FIDH jointly published a report calling on European governments to “Fully cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in line with relevant obligations set forth in the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions; and express public support for the independence of the Court in its investigation into the Situation in Palestine, which could encompass private and corporate actors.”
- In April 2021, FIDH welcomed the decision of the ICC to launch a formal investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the “State of Palestine.” According to FIDH, “This is a long-awaited and a critically important step towards ensuring the rule of law and ending impunity, while ensuring accountability for Israel’s crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
- In March 2020, FIDH submitted an amicus brief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in support of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s decision to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes.
- In September 2018, FIDH was a signatory on a letter to the ICC to “urgently open an investigation into the Situation in Palestine” as the “situation in Palestine is rapidly deteriorating and war crimes and crimes against humanity are allegedly frequently committed to entrench Israeli control over Palestinian territory and the Palestinian people.”
- In March 2015, FIDH submitted a report to the ICC, “Trapped and Punished: The Gaza Civilian Population under Operation Protective Edge,” which “presents evidence consistent with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Israeli military…” This biased and factually inaccurate report fails to acknowledge Hamas’ rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians and presents the Gaza conflict as an Israeli offensive, instead of a self-defense measure.
- Citing this publication, FIDH published a statement condemning UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon’s decision to not include Israel on a list of child rights violators. (See NGO Monitor’s report on “UNICEF and its NGO Working Group: Failing Children.”)
- In 2015, FIDH actively lobbied for the PA to accede to the International Criminal Court.
- During the 2014 Gaza conflict, FIDH wrote a letter to the UN Security Council alleging that the “operations of the Israeli Army constitute war crimes, and given the massive and systematic character of the killing of civilian populations, including children, the destruction of hospitals and schools, as well as entire areas in the North and the South of the Gaza Strip, further investigation may conclude that these actions amount to crimes against humanity.”
- In 2011, FIDH attempted to bring charges against US officials traveling to Europe. Katherine Gallagher, Senior Staff Attorney at CCR and Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said, “Waterboarding is torture, and Bush has admitted, without any sign of remorse, that he approved its use…The reach of the Convention Against Torture is wide – this case is prepared and will be waiting for him wherever he travels next. Torturers – even if they are former presidents of the United States – must be held to account and prosecuted. Impunity for Bush must end.”
- In 2010, FIDH signed a joint statement at the First Review Conference of the ICC’s Rome Statute falsely accusing Israel of impunity and “disregard for international and humanitarian law.” The organizations demanded that the ICC Prosecutor “make an urgent determination regarding the opening of an investigation into the situation in the OPT”; that “the UN Security Council…refer the situation to the ICC”; and that all States Parties to the ICC “take all appropriate measure, at the diplomatic and legal levels, to uphold the rule of law in the OPT.”
- In 2009, FIDH and several of its Palestinian and Israeli member organizations held a series of meetings with officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “explor[e] different avenues to bring justice to the victims of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law” relating to the Gaza War and to discuss “ICC jurisdiction over the situation [in Palestine],” “the gravity of the crimes committed,” and “the willingness and capacity of national tribunals to conduct domestic proceedings for crimes under ICC jurisdiction.”
BDS
- FIDH has stated its support for the “right to participate in and call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.” According to FIDH, “the BDS movement targets the Israeli government’s longstanding policies of unlawful occupation and discrimination of Palestinians, including through aiding and abetting the occupation. Thus, individuals should have the right to peacefully participate in and call for BDS measures to protest against such policies.”
- Together with the Platform of French NGOs for Palestine, FIDH spearheads a settlement boycott campaign in Belgium and France called “Made in Illegality,” which calls to “Ban the import of settlement products; Exclude colonies from bilateral agreements and cooperation with Israel; Dissuade Belgian companies from investing and conducting business relationships with Israeli settlements.” This campaign makes false factual claims and distorts legal narratives to accuse Israel of human rights violations, and erroneously argues that conducting business with Israel amounts to furthering these alleged violations.
- In June 2024, FIDH published a report titled, “The companies arming Israel and their financiers, focusing on “the relationships between European financial institutions and companies supplying arms to Israel.” According to FIDH, “By selling arms to Israel, arms companies run a high risk of facilitating ongoing severe violations of international humanitarian law…The unprecedented attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023 and the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) provisional measures order of 26 January 2024 determining there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza make it even more urgent for arms companies to stop their supplies to Israel and for financial institutions to stop financing companies that continue to supply arms to Israel.”
- In May 2024, FIDH published a statement that “Member states must go beyond timid condemnations and implement concrete measures, such as economic and diplomatic sanctions and an arms embargo against Israel.”
- In February 2022, FIDH participated in a campaign titled “#StopTradeWithSettlements” calling “for an EU law that will end trade with illegal settlements once and for all.”
- In September 2021, FIDH participated in a campaign headlined “Don’t Buy into Occupation Coalition.” As part of the campaign, a coalition of NGOs published a report purporting to “investigate and expose the financial relationships between businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and European Financial Institutions (FIs).” The report called for European governments to “prohibit the import of illegal settlement products and services from entering European markets, and ban trade with and economic support for illegal Israeli settlements.”
- Other pro-BDS NGOs involved in the campaign include Al-Haq, Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), Trocaire, ELSC, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), and The Rights Forum.
- In April 2021, FIDH published a report, “Target Locked: The Unrelenting Israeli Smear Campaigns to Discredit Human Rights Groups in Israel, Palestine, and the Syrian Golan,” which called for EU Member States to “publicly reaffirm the right of individuals and entities to participate in and call for boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) measures to protests against the Israeli governments’ international human rights law and international humanitarian law violations.” The report further called on UN Member States to “to enable the work of the OHCHR, via all adequate means, in fulfilling its mandate of annually updating the database of all business enterprises involved in Israeli settlement activities.”
- In July 2020, FIDH urged the international community to “Decide and adopt economic sanctions and other measures” until Israel ceases to “continue taking steps towards the illegal annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
- In June 2020, FIDH was a signatory on a statement calling for France to “recognize the State of Palestine,” as well as “comply with the obligation not to contribute to the development of Israeli settlements, and thus to exclude products from the settlements from the French market, to exclude the settlements from the scope of bilateral treaties and to actively dissuade companies from having trade and investment relations with the settlements.”
- In 2018-2019, FIDH lobbied intensively in support of the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel. FIDH has signed multiple letters to the UN calling for the database to be implemented without further delay. According to FIDH, “the absence of accountability has enabled the Occupying Power, Israel, to engage in activity in violation of international law in the occupied territory with near total impunity. This has allowed many private actors, including businesses, to contribute to and benefit from, sometimes unwittingly, gross human rights violations.”
- In June 2018, FIDH, alongside Al-Haq, Platform of French NGOs for Palestine (PFP), and Ligue des droits de l’Hommes (LdH), published a report, “The Jerusalem light-rail and how French companies contribute to the settlement of Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which targeted the French companies Systra, Egis, and Alstom that are involved in the Jerusalem light-rail construction. The report calls for the companies to “terminate their contracts with the Israeli authorities” and urged the French State “to take all the measures needed to ensure that the three public operators, SNCF, RATP and CDC, terminate the contracts signed in the context of the implementation of the Jerusalem tramway, by the companies they control, SYSTRA and Egis; and to take all the measure needed to prevent any participation or investment by French companies that would contribute to Israeli settlement.”
- In May 2019, after Alstom withdrew from the light rail project, FIDH published a press release that “it is crucial that the French government and all other European governments take a clear stance against companies’ involvement in the Israeli policies of annexation, colonisation, and occupation.”
- In March 2017, FIDH, along with groups including Al-Haq, Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), CCFD- Terre Solidaire, and the Ligue des droits de l’Hommes (LdH) published a document ‘The dangerous ties between French banks and insurances companies with the Israeli occupation,’ which recommends that the French government pressure French financial institutions to “disengage without delay from any financial link with the Israeli banking system” and create “a legislative proposal prohibiting enterprises from all sectors to invest in the settlements.” The report only points to very minor and indirect connections, if at all, to settlements, and French courts have repeatedly found that such business activity is not illegal. The report was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
- FIDH welcomed the November 2015 decision of the European Commission to label Israeli settlements goods, but called on the EU to “end all economic and commercial trade with the Israeli settlements, and to dissuade businesses from investing, maintaining and benefiting from economic relations with the Israeli settlements.”
- On May 6, 2015, FIDH along with other French NGOs and unions, as well as Al Haq, published a report, “Orange’s Dangerous Liaisons in the Occupies Palestinian Territory,” calling for a boycott of the Israeli mobile phone network Partner Communications (which then operated under the Orange brand). The NGOs targeted the French corporation Orange Group and “the French State as Orange’s principal majority shareholder.”
- Efforts to pressure Orange included attending the Orange annual shareholders meeting, and lobbying of the French government and the Palestinian Authority.
Members
- Adalah rejects the legitimacy of the Jewish state, attempting to portray it as inherently racist and discriminatory; regularly lobbies the Israeli Supreme Court and international bodies to adopt its agenda.
- Publishes an online “Discriminatory Laws Database” that claims to collect “text, analyses, and legal action for present and proposed discriminatory laws in Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories].” This deceptive list does not distinguish between laws and legislative proposals and refers to Zionism pejoratively. Furthermore, laws regarding the historic Jewish connection to Israel are labeled as discriminatory, including the use of symbols and the Hebrew calendar.
- Al-Haq is a leader in anti-Israel “lawfare” campaigns and BDS activities. The NGO’s General Director Shawan Jabarin is allegedly linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, Canada, and Israel.
- On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
- Al-Haq proposed sabotaging the Israeli court system by “flooding the [Israeli Supreme] Court with petitions in the hope of obstructing its functioning and resources.” In October 2013, Al-Haq and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) held a meeting with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to present a legal opinion that accused Israel of “widespread and systematic commission of international crimes and violations of international law.”
- Highly active in anti-Israel lawfare campaigns, exploiting courts and international legal bodies to seek arrest warrants against Israeli government officials, file lawsuits against companies and governments doing business with Israel, and lobby for cases against Israelis at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- A number of Al-Mezan officials and employees are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas, terrorist organizations designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. For more information on Al-Mezan’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Al Mezan Center For Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
- Actively pursues its political agenda in the Israeli courts and the Knesset.
- Accuses Israel of “apartheid,” perpetrating “war crimes,” “beating and abus[ing]” Palestinians, “demolition of [Palestinian] houses as punishment,” and forced “deportations.”
- In October 2016, Hagai Elad appeared before a special session of the UN Security Council initiated by Egypt, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Angola, asking the UN to take “decisive international action” against Israel. In his presentation, Elad made no mention of Palestinian terror attacks or incitement.
Center for Constitutional Rights
- Active in lawfare suits against Israel and Israeli officials (including Avi Dichter and Moshe Ya’alon); promotes anti-Israel BDS campaigns; urges the U.S. government to stop providing military aid to Israel; presents an entirely biased and distorted view of the conflict and utilizes highly politicized rhetoric, accusing Israel of “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity,” and other such allegations.
- In April-May 2018, CCR led a “Justice Delegation” to Israel and the West Bank claiming to provide a “better understand[ing of] the human rights situation in Israel and Palestine.” However, the trip met with Israeli and Palestinian organizations that promote a one-sided Palestinian narrative of the conflict, BDS, lawfare, and antisemitism, and some with alleged ties to terrorism.
- On May 14, 2018, the Justice Delegation released a statement accusing Israel of “settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing on Palestinian communities through blatantly obtrusive policies” as well as “structural racism and apartheid.”
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
- PCHR describes Israel’s policies as “apartheid” and accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” “war crimes,” and the “Judaization of Jerusalem,” while regularly distorting or denying the context of terrorism against Israeli civilians.
- In an interview, PCHR director Raji Sourani admitted that he served “a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court which convicted him of membership in the illegal Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…” He was also denied a US entry visa in 2012.
- In February 2014, the PFLP organized a ceremony in Gaza honoring Sourani for winning the “Alternative Noble (sic) Prize.”
- For more information on PCHR’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
- Regularly circulates unverifiable allegations of Israeli torture, using them as the basis for campaigns in international forums and Israeli courts.
- In 2013, PCATI published a statement, “Childhood is not a Privilege but a Right!,” inaccurately alleging that Israeli authorities place Palestinian “prisoners in iron cages (including children)” (emphasis added –originally published December 31, 2013; revised January 8, 2014).
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)
- In March 2017, Fathi Nemer, Program Officer at RCHRS, wrote an op-ed stating, “The ethnic cleansing, massacres and colonialism needed to establish Israel can never be justified, regardless of who was there first… There is no possible scenario where it is excusable to perpetrate war crimes against a people.”
- In December 2016, RCHRS was a signatory on a statement for the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” demanding that the “Zionist occupation authorities” be placed “on trial, for war crimes and crimes against humanity which they committed against the Palestinian People” and advocated to “continue working on increasing the international isolation of Israel until imposing international sanctions against it.”
Funding to FIDH (amounts in €)
Donor | 2022 | 2021 |
---|---|---|
AFD (France) | 6,175,525 | 2,835,798 |
Bread for the World - EED (Germany) | 396,765 | 506,093 |
European Commission | 6,011,774 | 4,324,377 |
Irish Aid | 650,367 | 831,682 |
Open Society Foundation | 1,031,006 | 478,863 |
SIDA (Sweden) | 3,348,320 | 4,805,055 |
Switzerland | 3,393 | 3,393 |
All Articles about FIDH: International Federation of Human Rights (Paris)