Press Release

21 May 1999

On 20 May, 1999, Mr Sha'wan Jabarin, a human rights activist with al-Haq, was barred entry by the Israeli authorities to Jordan. He was exiting Israel via the Allenby border crossing in order to represent al-Haq in testifying before the Special Committee To Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of Occupied Territories, which resumed its sessions on the 22nd May, 1999. Al-Haq was invited by the Special Committee to testify before it regarding human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Israeli decision to bar human rights activists from either testifying before the Special Committee or even exiting to Jordan, represents a clear violation of the international laws and principles of human rights, specifically the right to freedom of movement, and to leave and return to any country, including one's own. [Article13 (2), Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), and Article 12, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)] This decision by the Israeli government also violates the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference (Article 19, UDHR), and the right to receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (Article 19, ICCPR).