Palestine: Leading the Way in the Middle East

Last week, New Zealand was visited by two staff members of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen Rights, which our own Human Right Commisson has been working closely with. Scoop's Yasmine Ryan took the opportunity to speak with Dr Mamdouh Aker, Commissioner General, and Ms Lamis Alami, Director General, about their work on human rights in Palestine.

PICCR's Dr Mamdouh Aker Commissioner General, and Ms Lamis Alami, Director General.

Of all the nations in the Middle East, who would have guessed that it would be Palestine which would be the first to establish a national human rights institution and ombudsman? In a way, it makes sense – every Palestinian knows what it is to have his or her rights oppressed. Since the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen Rights (PICCR) was established on 30 September 1993 through a Presidential Decree by Yasser Arafat, Palestine has been the only Arab nation to demand a measure of accountability and transparency from its authorities.

The push for such an institution came following the signing of the Oslo Accords. Says Dr Aker: “We felt that our leadership was devoid of previous government experience, coming from the background of a liberation movement.” Originally intended to act solely as an ombudsman, the PICCR’s work has evolved to include that of a national human rights commission. Its mandate gives it the responsibility of seeing that the laws, bylaws and regulations, and the work of the government and its various agencies, departments and institutions are respectful of human rights.

A core part of its work is receiving complaints from Palestinian citizens on instances where their rights have been violated. The institution also is currently reviewing laws and legislation, to make sure that they meet with international principles and standards of human rights. Alami describes the review as “A golden opportunity for the Palestinians, because this review of legislation comes at a time when we are starting to have Palestinian legislation, whereas in the past we had a mix of various laws ranging from the Ottomans, to the British, to the Jordanians, Israelis, Egyptians.”

In addition, the PICCR works “to promote a culture of human rights, and to educate people about their rights, and the mechanisms for the protection of these rights” through an extensive educational and public awareness programme. It produces an annual report ( piccr.org/report/report.html), which analyses the three authorities – legislative, judicial, and executive – highlighting their achievements and any drawbacks, and at the same time makes recommendations for areas of improvement. According to Alami, “this has become a very powerful instrument which has given the PICCR its independence, its credibility… I think also because we publish this annual report in English as well as Arabic, the international community has access to this important document, and I think also helps pressure the Palestinian executive to bring about some reforms.”

Of course, in carrying out this work, the PICCR must be ever-conscious of the fact of the Israeli occupation, and must take into consideration the impact this inevitably has on the ability of the Palestinian Authorities to function. Much of the infrastructure has been destroyed, sighs Dr Aker, making the functioning of the National Authorities almost impossible, and in many areas it has became completely paralysed. “Besides the physical destruction measures, they imposed the restriction of movement, by creating what is well-known about the checkpoints. You can imagine, in the West Bank when there are about 734 checkpoints, it makes movement almost impossible. The students cannot reach their schools, teachers, doctors, nurses, business people... the social groups were cut off into small units.”

“On the one hand, we’ve got the occupation, and all the violations emanating from the occupation, and on the other hand you’ve got an authority that’s constantly under attack and not allowed to do its work and provide its services” Alami states. The Commission does not monitor Israeli violations, as this work is done by the numerous non-governmental human rights organisations. Instead, the PICCR analyses the Israeli violations and how they are impacting on the government (http://www.piccr.org/violations/violations.html), says Dr Aker. The concentration of efforts on the Palestinian authorities, Alami says, is because “We think that despite the difficult situation, they should be working to establishing a democratic government, where the rule of law prevails and you have good governance and so on.”

Although it has not been specifically targeted by Israeli forces, the PICCR faces the same severe restrictions that any organisation functioning in the occupied territory must cope with. In particular, the restriction of movement by curfews and checkpoints made it difficult for a single office operating in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. “Quite often the staff could not get to the offices, so our work was disrupted,” explains Dr Aker.

In surmounting these not inconsiderable difficulties, the PICCR has received some international support, including from New Zealand, which was the one of the few countries prepared to help provide training for the Palestinian institution in its early stages. Of New Zealand’s Chief Human Rights’ Commissioner Roslyn Noonan, who has been to Palestine twice to give advice, Alami says “Now I release what it meant when she came over to Palestine, the amount she had to fly and the waiting in airports!”

The PICCR is also an associate member of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Human Rights [?], and soon will be a fully-fledged member. It receives support too from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights at the United Nations.

In terms of funding, the PICCR relies on support from the Swedes, the Norwegians, the Dutch, the Danish and the Swiss, who also help with capacity-building. Ideally, any ombudsman or national human rights commission is funded by its own government, but at this stage the Palestinian government is itself surviving on international aid.

Dr Aker believes these international relationships provide the institution with protection, “on the level of our government – because the higher the profile we achieve, the more strength we can get locally in dealing with the government. And at the same time, on the level of the Israelis.”

This could be a contributing factor in the rising level of responsiveness the PICCR is having with the Palestinian Authorities. “When the Commission started its work, we first started visiting ministers and writing letters to public officers, their immediate response was who are you to hold us accountable?” But, the concept of an ombudsman is taking hold, says Alami, in a culture that’s not used to the notion of accountability. “This is the first time they’ve been held accountable, and had to answer what action they’ve taken. And gradually, there has been more and more response.”

And in the past year, the PICCR has received its best response yet, especially at the level of the ministries, and from the Prime Minister. A considerable victory Dr Aker speaks of is the abolition of the State Security Courts, thanks to a lengthy campaign. Now all civilians are trialed in civil courts. “We took a further step, because some of those that who were tried are still serving sentences, so we wrote to the government that as these Security Courts had been abolished, some of the cases should be reviewed. And they are accepting to review their files. “

Of all the authorities, the Palestinian security forces are the least helpful. “It’s easier to solve issues relating to civil rights than it is issues relating to the security forces”, says Alami. But once the work of the PICCR is ratified by the Palestinian parliament later this year, the Commission will have the authority to litigate, “and I think that they should be ready for that stage.”

One aspect of their work that the Palestinian officials are particularly proud of is their involvement in supervising and monitoring the elections, both the Presidential Elections two months ago ( http://www.piccr.org/publications/special38e.pdf), and part of the local elections ( http://www.piccr.org/publications/special37e.pdf). The PICCR helped with monitoring the situation for the monitors, the election campaign, and the voting process.

For Alami, the relative success of the elections (with the notable exception of East Jerusalem, where votes had to be cast by mail and delivered by the Israeli authorities to the Palestinian Election Committee) are something to be celebrated: “Despite having our elections – which are supposed to be democratic and free – conducted under occupation on the one side, and the absence of rule of law on the other, yet we managed to have one of the most democratic elections in the region, an example which is to be copied, and at the same time, a strong expression on the part of the Palestinians of their yearning for the establishment of a democratic state”.

After the elections, the head of the Egypt delegation to Palestine announced that “We don’t only learn steadfastness and endurance from the Palestinians, but also we learn democracy from them.” The Egyptian opposition asked for elections based on the Palestinian model, and former US President Jimmy Carter commended the process.

“In Jordan they were trying to establish an ombudsman office and they were getting a lot of help from the Danish Ombudsman, and they were telling them that they could learn a lot from the Palestinians.” To Dr Aker’s surprise, the Jordanian Government abandoned the project.

In spite of the many obstacles faced by Palestinians – or perhaps because of them – the seeds of democracy and respect for human rights seem to be taking root, more so than in the nation’s more secure neighbours. While parts of Palestine continue to be occupied by the Israeli Armed Forces, however, these seeds cannot take root and grow to their full potential. It is the outcome of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that will determine whether or not Palestine will continue to lead the way for democracy, good governance and respect for human rights in the Middle East.

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