US sanctions against Palestinian groups must be immediately withdrawn, say 80 organisations
Topic
Country/Region
16 October 2025
United States sanctions against three Palestinian human rights organisations have been condemned by 80 organisations, including Statewatch. The US government has frozen the financial assets of Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Organisations subject to US jurisdiction are prevented from engaging in transactions with them. The open letter calls on the US government to "immediately rescind the sanctions."
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Image: United Nations Photo, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The US government placed sanctions on Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights due to their engagement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and efforts investigating potential war crimes committed by the government of Israel in Gaza.
The open letter to the US government, coordinated by the Charity & Security Network, says that the sanctions "create a chilling effect on humanitarian and human rights work in Gaza and undermine the abilities of civil society actors to pursue accountability under international law."
The government of Slovenia recently called for a coordinated EU response to US sanctions against ICC officials and Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Full-text of the open letter (also available in PDF format)
As organizations committed to civil society and open civic space, we, the undersigned, are gravely concerned by the U.S. government’s (USG) decision to i mpose sanctions underExecutive Order (EO) 14203 against three leading Palestinian human rights organizations — Al-Haq: Law in the Service of Man (Al-Haq), Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights (Al-Mezan), and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) — for engaging with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek investigations into war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. These sanctions create a chilling effect on humanitarian and human rights work in Gaza and undermine the abilities of civil society actors to pursue accountability under international law.
They further threaten the civil society infrastructure in Gaza, hinder the documentation of human rights abuses, impede fact-finding missions, and deter legal cooperation with the ICC. If this suppression continues, accountability for the gravest international crimes will erode.
We join the Sept. 4 response of Volker Türk, Chief of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), who unequivocally called on the United States to “withdraw immediately these sanctions,” warning that they pose a dire threat to independent civil society organizations (CSOs) engaged in essential accountability work. These calls were echoed by civil society and legal organizations.
This escalation — from sanctioning ICC individuals to now targeting organizations and UN officials — infuses political reprisals into the international justice and accountability framework. It deters organizations worldwide from pursuing accountability due to the fear of retaliation, creating a chilling effect on humanitarian and human rights work, where protection is most needed.
We urge the USG to immediately rescind the sanctions against Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and PCHR. Signatories:
- A New Policy
- American Civil Liberties Union
- American Council for Judaism
- American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
- Amnesty International USA
- Ben and Jerry's Foundation
- CAIR-WA (Council on American-Islamic Relations, Washington State Chapter)
- Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
- Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV)
- Charity & Security Network
- Churches for Middle East Peace
- CIDSE - International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
- CIVICUS
- CODEPINK
- Confinium Strategies
- Decolonize Sudan
- Defence for Children International DCI
- Defending Rights & Dissent
- Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
- DIAKONIA
- Diana's List
- Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
- Dorchester People for Peace (DPP)
- Ensaaf
- European Legal Support Center (ELSC)
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
- Foundation for Middle East Peace
- Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
- Funding Freedom
- HEART to Grow
- Historians for Peace and Democracy (HPAD)
- Human Rights First
- Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN)
- Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- IfNotNow Movement
- Jewish Voice for Peace
- Just Foreign Policy
- Kenya Human Rights Commission
- KinderUSA
- Kolibri Foundation
- MADRE
- Maine Coalition for Palestine
- Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (MOGC)
- Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA)
- MedGlobal
- MENA Rights Group
- Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA)
- Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
- Minnesota Peace Project
- MPower Change Action Fund
- Muslim Civic Coalition
- Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
- Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
- National Lawyers Guild - Bay Area Chapter
- Nonviolence International
- Oxfam America
- Palestine Legal
- Pax Christi International
- Peace Action
- Presbyterian Church (USA), Office of Public Witness
- Project South
- Rabbis for Ceasefire (R4C)
- Regenerative Economies Organizing Collaborative (REO)
- ReThinking Foreign Policy (RTFP)
- rochester, minnesota franciscan community
- RootsAction
- Sagner Family Foundation
- Statewatch
- Terre des hommes Italia (TDH IT)
- The Carter Center
- The Episcopal Church
- The Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (PAL)
- The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (QI)
- United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
- United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ)
- Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF)
- World BEYOND War
- Zakat Foundation of America
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Further reading
Slovenia demands EU reponse to US attacks on judicial indepencence and the rule of law
The Slovenian government wants EU justice and interior ministers to discuss "how to protect the international rule of law and justice system" in the face of "continued targeting of international judicial and human rights mandate holders by U.S. sanctions." A document obtained by Statewatch requests a discussion at the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting next week.
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