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UN rights chief condemns sanctions on Palestinian NGOs helping ICC probe into Israel

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 06 September 2025 6:52 PM

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has rejected the latest United States sanctions on three prominent Palestinian rights groups for their role in supporting the International Criminal Court's (ICC) efforts to prosecute Israeli leaders as "completely unacceptable," calling for them to be withdrawn.

"For decades now, these NGOs have been performing vital human rights work, particularly on accountability for human rights violations," that is "all the more important when international humanitarian and human rights laws are being violated systematically in Gaza and the West Bank," including East al-Quds, he said on Friday.

Turk urged the US to immediately withdraw its sanctions "as well as the ones imposed earlier on the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and on multiple Judges and Prosecutors of the ICC."

He added that the sanctions will have a "chilling effect" not only on civil society in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, but potentially worldwide.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed sanctions on al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which included freezing their assets and prohibiting American citizens from conducting financial transactions with them.

"These entities have directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel's consent," Rubio said in a statement.

The move comes as part of a broader campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump to penalize those who criticize the occupying Tel Aviv regime both domestically and internationally.

It marks the most recent in Washington's attempts to undermine the ICC, which has pursued arrest warrants for Israeli officials in connection with war crimes in Gaza.

Last month, Rubio stated that the Trump administration was adding two judges and two prosecutors to the list of ICC members who have been sanctioned.

"The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel," the top US diplomat stated at the time.

The sanctions targeted Kimberly Prost of Canada, Nicolas Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.

Amnesty International also condemned the new sanctions as a "deeply troubling and shameful assault on human rights and the global pursuit of justice."

"These organizations carry out vital and courageous work, meticulously documenting human rights violations under the most horrifying conditions," Erika Guevara-Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty, said.

She took a swipe at the Trump administration for seeking to "dismantle the very foundation of international justice and shield Israel from accountability for its crimes."

At least 64,368 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 162,367 individuals have been injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.