Initiated by PCATI, the bill reflects a historic attempt to compensate for the ongoing failure by the state to enact such a law by itself, despite repeated promises to the international community. PCATI has also drafted several bills together with our partners from the Zulat Institute for Equality and Human Rights. We hope that these drafts will also be adopted and tabled. They include bills protecting the freedom of protest and right to demonstrate; opposing unnecessary detentions, which mainly target minority communities in Israel; and incentivizing the Police Investigations Department to conduct substantive investigations when police officers cause real physical injury to citizens, rather than confining themselves to the negligent format of a “preliminary investigation.”
I am writing to you from Geneva, where I am participating in the periodic examination of the human rights situation in Israel. Every UN Member State undergoes this examination once every four years, and after its completion all Member States may present practical recommendations to the reviewed State with the goal of improving the situation. As you know, the current Israeli government is discussing possible bills to establish a private militia subject to the authority of the National Security Minister; to impose the death penalty on Arabs only; to criminalize Israeli organizations that appeal to the International Criminal Court in The Hague; to grant sweeping immunity to security forces personnel; to tax progressive NGOs; and to promote a whole series of antidemocratic legislative initiatives. I will present a detailed report on this reality here in Geneva and suggest various practical recommendations.
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