Blockraiser Official

Last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s top court, made it clear: governments have a legal obligation to address the human rights crisis caused by climate change. The United Nations has just adopted a resolution to endorse the ICJ’s findings and commit countries to taking robust climate action. As the world continues to suffer record-breaking temperatures that harm the lives and livelihoods of billions of people, this historic resolution could not be more timely. Governments must stand firm in their commitment to ensure those least responsible for climate change don’t bear the heaviest price while big polluters get away scot-free. This resolution must be a turning point for climate justice and accountability for years to come. The world may seem more fragmented than ever, but this resolution reminds us of how powerful it is when people, including civil society and grassroots movements, come together.

Not in line with Israel’s values and norms? That’s not true. Let´s stick to the facts. While the hundreds of Global Sumud Flotilla activists unlawfully detained by Israel are en route back to their countries, Palestinian prisoners will have to continue to endure unspeakable abuse. Israel has a long history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. Its systematic use of administrative detention – detaining Palestinians without charge or trial - is a cornerstone of Israel’s system of #apartheid. Torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners have been a cruel reality for decades and only increased in the last 3 years. Over 9,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are currently held in Israel’s prisons. More than a 1,000 are from Gaza and subjected to enforced disappearance or held incommunicado in military facilities and denied access to lawyers or contact with their families. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have continuously documented a pattern of Israeli authorities inflicting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against Palestinians, including through the denial of medicine, food, clothing and sleep, continuous beating, cuffing and blindfolding, dog attacks, rape and other sexual violence, among other abuses. In yet another display of double standards, third states have remained unmoved to the repeated calls to act to bring an end to Israel’s abuses against Palestinians in custody. This must end.