No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) stands in unshakeable solidarity with our colleagues at Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, and unequivocally condemns the legally indefensible and politically motivated decision by the United States to sanction them. This brazen act of intimidation is a direct reprisal for their lawful and principled engagement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue accountability for the gravest crimes under international law.
These organizations, operating under catastrophic circumstances and guided by their on-the-ground documentation, have been instrumental in exposing egregious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Their submission to the ICC in late 2023, urging an investigation into alleged war crimes—including indiscriminate attacks, the illegal siege, and mass forced displacement—was a legitimate exercise of fundamental rights. The ICC’s subsequent decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials validates the seriousness of the evidence presented and the necessity of their work.
These sanctions constitute a direct assault on the rule of law itself. They are a transparent attempt to shield the powerful from accountability and to punish the victims and those who dare to speak for them. This action sends a chilling message to human rights defenders everywhere: that the pursuit of justice may itself be criminalized. This is an attempt to shatter the mirror held up to these violations, a blatant obstruction of justice aimed at undermining legal processes by silencing human rights work and entrenching impunity.
The European Union’s Complicity: A Betrayal of Its Own Laws
The European Union and its Member States are not mere bystanders; they are actively complicit through their wilful inaction. The EU Blocking Statute exists for this precise purpose: to nullify the extraterritorial application of illegitimate, coercive foreign measures. This instrument was created to defend Europe’s own sovereign jurisdiction, by forbidding enforcement of extraterritorial sanctions and by providing remedies for those targeted. To let it lie dormant is to betray the very sovereignty it was meant to safeguard. This is not an oversight—it is a conscious political choice. It is an abdication of legal sovereignty and a blatant betrayal of the Union’s founding principles of justice and human rights.
By refusing to activate its own legal defenses, the EU capitulates to external pressure and abandons its obligations to protect fundamental rights and the integrity of international judicial processes. This complicity stains Europe’s credibility at the very moment when steadfast solidarity with international justice and Palestinian civil society is most urgently required.
A Call to Uphold the Law Without Exception
We reaffirm our absolute support for the ICC, its Prosecutor, and its Judges, who face escalating intimidation for executing their independent mandate. We reaffirm our support for the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, whose mandate is being attacked for the same reason: exposing violations and demanding accountability.
The targeting of these human rights organizations is an attack on the very foundation of the international legal order. We call upon all ICC States Parties and all members of the international community committed to a rules-based order to take immediate and decisive action: reject this intimidation, support our sanctioned Palestinian partners, defend the independence of judicial institutions, and ensure that the pursuit of justice is insulated from political interference.
Justice is not a crime.
