U.S. Sanctions Against Palestinian Human Rights Organisations: A Threat to the Right To Defend Rights
The OMCT denounces the sanctioning of credible and legitimate Palestinian organisations that document torture, atrocities and international crimes. The OMCT calls on all States, including in Europe, to protect the right to defend rights in Palestine and the integrity of international justice.
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) denounces the U.S. government’s decision to designate Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR); three tremendously credible defenders of human rights operating in Palestine.
Al-Haq and Al Mezan are members of the OMCT’s SOS-Torture Network, and just like the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, have spent decades meticulously documenting torture, extrajudicial killings, and systematic violations of international law. Their work has been instrumental in improving the lives of communities, supporting victims and in bringing cases before international courts providing evidence of atrocities that would otherwise remain hidden. Now, with their designation on the sanctions list, potential asset freeze and jeopardy of international partnerships, their ability to bear witness to ongoing crimes is put at risk when most needed.
This decision, taken under Executive Order 14203 targeting entities engaged with the International Criminal Court (ICC), criminalises truth-telling and shields those responsible for international crimes from accountability.
“Sanctions should target those who commit atrocities, not those who expose them,” said Gerald Staberock, Secretary General of OMCT. “If organisations that document evidence of atrocities can be sanctioned, then human rights defence globally is at risk.”
The decision follows the June 2025 designation, by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, another member of the SOS-Torture Network.
It is now decisive how the international community responds. We need States to stand up to supporting fundamental principles for the protection of human rights, so that Palestinian human rights organisations can continue their work. The OMCT calls upon States to take steps, including the enactment of a so-called blocking statute to preserve the ICC and by demanding the immediate and unconditional reversal of these sanctions.
Ultimately, every day these sanctions remain in place, evidence of atrocities risk to go undocumented, victims go unheard, and the credibility of the international human rights system is put at risk. The global human rights movement faces a defining moment.
About OMCT
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is a global coalition of more than 200 non-governmental organisations fighting against torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances, and all other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. The OMCT is a member of the United Against Torture Consortium.
Contact
For more information, please contact Francesca Pezzola, at fpe@omct.org
