Human
rights organizations are part of the civil society system, which is now
particularly important. The situation of human rights is
worsening year by year, especially during periods of war, and the absence of
true democracy, which is characterized by active participation in political
life, has made human rights vulnerable to the most widespread violations.
Human
rights organizations are generally characterized by being non-impartial
professional organizations, carrying a lofty humanitarian
message entitled Human Dignity, and faces in order to carry this
message, various kinds of challenges and difficulties.
In an
unfavorable political environment in which political parties cling to power or
seek to preserve political gains in an undemocratic manner, the work
of human rights organizations becomes more difficult, and the human
rights organizations accuse to be non-impartial in any statement, report or
activity it makes.
The problems faced by human rights
organizations and the enormous accusations against it are not different in
terms of content between organizations, whether local, regional or international.These
charges are increased whenever the human rights organization is active and
daring and addresses problematic issues.
A
well-established golden rule in human rights work says, "There are no
neutral people, but there are neutral behaviors." That is there are applicable
controls, procedures and rules, all of which are called professional standards.
Being a
human rights activist means that you have to distinguish between two things,
between the required professional career and the political thought that you
carry which is your right as a human being, so when you are involved in the
work of human rights you must follow the required professional standards.
The
professional standards that are required do not mean that you are getting rid
of your political ideas, but rather that you leave it aside when you are
working in a human rights organization, because political action means that you
have opponents and interests, while human rights organizations are not a
political opponent to anyone but it seeks human dignity.
We are
working with all the Palestinian political forces; we talk and criticize them directly.
We do not go to the media except in the final stages because we are not a party
that is looking for the press; we are a human rights organization.
We meet
with diplomatic missions on a continuously. We record our positions with
courage and responsibility and record a stand in front of the public when
necessary. We meet UNRWA officials on a continuously, we do not go
to the media until all efforts and efforts fail, and we meet with Lebanese
political and security officials, and we deliver them memorandums and talk to
them continuously. This means that we are not a political opponent to anyone
and we meet with everyone according to strict professional controls.
The
Palestinian Association for Human Rights (witness) works in two difficult
environments.
The first
is the environment of the Israeli occupation, which does not like to distort
its image in international forums as a result of its inhumane conduct against
the population of the occupied Palestinian territories, and does not like to harm
its reputation in the international community. In the past decade, (witness)
has been active in this direction and has been able to reach many international
platforms in a steady pace. The Israeli occupation
undoubtedly accuses (witness) of being non- impartial, just as it had accused local
and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch, it also accused two UN rapporteurs as well, and the talk on
that goes on. And (witness) sensed several Israeli attempts to
obstruct the organization's work or to accuse it of being non-impartial in different
time and place.
The Second
Environment: The complex Arab and Palestinian environment: (witness) works in
an extremely complex Palestinian environment among its various political
forces, between
the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority in the
Gaza Strip, stories of political rivalry are almost endless, and among
Palestinians in the diaspora, especially in Lebanon, stories of political
rivalry are also difficult to describe. And between this and that, the Palestinian
Association for Human Rights (witness) is active in all directions, and it
receives as a result of this activity multiple charges, the least of which is
that it is non-impartial.
(Witness)
publishes multiple reports in which it makes its best efforts to view all the perspectives
and does not rely on one novel or one source, it waits long before
any report or position is issued, and before the human rights conditions have
been met. In this complex atmosphere how a report can satisfy
this and not satisfy that, and who can basically satisfy the competing and
adversarial parties.
The
easiest way for conflicting parties is to accuse human rights organizations of
not being impartial, away from human rights and professional
assessment.
Human
rights organizations are then accused of being failing to fulfill their
humanitarian obligations toward humanitarian cases. Let us
explain the role and capacity of human rights organizations in the defense of
human rights. Human rights organizations are not executive powers
and they are not a governing body with great political influence. They do not
have the enormous financial and human resources to deal with all humanitarian
situations, it does not have the keys to prisons or the granting
of universities, and it does not have the decision of hospital administrations
to treat patients free of charge.
The most
important question is where are the official political parties, why are they not
fulfilling their duties and asking human rights organizations to do their duty?Do not
have a political decision? Is not it the official body that
negotiates and speaks and its own financial resources? Then in
principle is not it responsible to citizens?
The
Palestinian Association for Human Rights (witness) established in complex
Palestinian, Arab and Lebanese political conditions. It is a
truly non-profit organization that has relied on very modest human and
financial resources, and has not received generous Western
funding, and has operated under different headings under a non-profit
organization named (witness) for Human Rights because of the difficulty of
granting the ID (identity registration) to Palestinian organizations and then
it becomes the Palestinian Association for Human Rights (witness) after
receiving the ID. All of this was done very seriously until it reached this
stage.
Issued
(witness) dozens, but hundreds of reports and human rights statements and recorded
dozens of positions, sent hundreds of appeals and memos, held
hundreds of meetings with official bodies, political, diplomatic and
international, participated in hundreds of media
interviews, participated actively in dozens of activities at the
local, Arab and international levels.
The
organization was not recorded for a day that it turned its back on a
humanitarian case it had resorted to or a human rights appeal. It follows up to
the last breath.
Its
working group has undergone dozens of human rights training courses locally,
and internationally, and has developed itself significantly, and many of the
working group receiving master's degrees.
Early in its
work, (witness) opened the door to volunteering and dozens of our young men and
women came into the organization to work as volunteers, and managed
the volunteer process well, where the human element was invested in a way that
serves the rights issues.
Those who
run the Palestinian Association for Human Rights are human beings who can made
mistakes, but the honesty of their workers may be recommend their mistakes,
which are purely technical errors. And our believing that we can make mistakes
and be on right, we aspire to listen to every constructive criticism based on
logic and evidence rather than false accusations of unknown names.
We believe
that partnership with civil society and with political forces is strategic in
our thinking and programs because, in short, we have achieved partnership in
the battle for the defense of Palestinian human rights wherever they may be.
Beirut,
7/6/2019
The Director of the Palestinian
Association for Human Rights (witness) Dr. Mahmoud El Hanafi