HRW: Donors Should Press Palestinian Security Forces to End Abuse

Wednesday June 25, 2008 15:02 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Human Rights Watch, a human rights organization based in the United States, issued a report on Tuesday calling for Donor countries to press Palestinian Security Forces to end abuse.

PA officer - Photo by IMEMC Ghassan Bannoura - File 2008

In their repot HRW said that donors to Palestinian security forces in the West Bank should condition their aid on concrete efforts to end serious abuses by all forces. When providing security aid and training, donors should require the authorities to build law enforcement institutions that are transparent, accountable and in compliance with international human rights standards, HRW added. More than 40 senior officials from European Union member states, the United Nations, the Arab League, the United States and elsewhere are joining Palestinian and Israeli officials on Monday in Berlin, Germany, for a conference to support the Palestinian civil police and rule of law in the West Bank. “Berlin is an opportunity to strengthen human rights protections for Palestinians in the West Bank, who suffer abuses by their own security forces as well as Israel’s,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Donors should condition their aid on concrete steps to end politically motivated arrests, torture, and other serious violations that have increased over the past year.” Whitson added The Berlin conference focused on the civil police, which seen by HRW to be the least abusive Palestinian force in the West Bank. The conference is part of a comprehensive international effort to bolster the Fatah-dominated authorities in Ramallah as an alternative to Hamas and as a partner in negotiations with Israel. “The civil police are improving and they deserve support, but other sectors of the West Bank security apparatus are committing serious abuses with impunity,” Whitson said. “Donors concerned with the rule of law must take that into account.” Over the past year, HRW documented a rise in human rights violations by West Bank security forces, as part of a crackdown against Hamas, the report stated. In Gaza, which is run by Hamas, Fatah members and supporters have suffered similar abuse, HRW report concluded.

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