Ref: 69/2018
Date: 05 July 2018
Press Release,
In the wake of the non-issuance of MP Majid Abu Shammala’s passport, and the obstruction of the issuance of passports of foresters and injured.
The International Commission calls on the Palestinian government to abide by and comply with national law and the human rights system by issuing passports to the residents of Gaza Strip and neutralizing their right to passport from political disputes.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) strongly condemns the continuation of the Ministry of the Interior in the Government of National Accord in the discriminatory political practice in issuing passports to the Palestinian citizens of Gaza Strip through its disobedience to the Palestinian law which affirmed that the Palestinian passport is guaranteed by national law after the completion of the submission of documents specified and declared by the system without any additions or other conditions.
According to information available to the Commission, the Ministry of the Interior in the National Accord Government, until now – despite the issuance of thousands of passports recently to the residents of Gaza Strip – is still implementing a policy of discrimination against hundreds of injured, as well as a few days ago it held the passport of the deputy in the Legislative Council and the head of the Islamic National Committee for Social Solidarity MP Majid Abu Shammala and refused to renew it.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) considers that the continuation of the Ministry of Interior’s implementation of its discriminatory policy toward the population of Gaza Strip is a clear violation of national law and international instruments. ICSPR points the illegality of this practice and its violation of the Basic Law and the most basic rights of citizenship, and reminds all of its declared position on the importance of neutralizing citizens and their rights and not impeding them in the midst of political conflicts. Therefore, ICSPR demands the following:
- ICSPR emphasizes that obtaining a passport is an inherent human right, and denying it involves violating a wide range of human rights, such as the right to education, work, health and the right to freedom of travel and movement.
- ICSPR declares its rejection of all the justifications used by the Ministry of the Interior to justify its discriminatory measures towards the residents of Gaza Strip, as well as the deliberate delay that the Ministry of the Interior implements towards the applicants Gaza Strip.
- ICSPR considers that the Ministry of the Interior non-issuance of a passport to MP Majid Abu Shammala, a violation parliamentary immunity granted to him, and comes in the context of political retaliation.
- ICSPR demands the Ministry of Interior to immediately reverse its discriminatory policies, to enable the residents of Gaza Strip to obtain their passports, and not to add new illegal conditions and procedures.
Regards,
