HR/IHL Secretariat 2013-2017

The HR/IHL Secretariat provided core funding to 24 CSO partners over a four year period, 2014 - 2017, in addition to providing an opportunity and space for collaboration and interaction, as well as providing targeted capacity building to participating organisations. Annual project support was also provided to around 37 organisations and for specific activities during the same period. The HR/IHL Secretariat program supported organisations to enhance their collaborative efforts to challenge an entrenched culture of impunity and counteract escalating attacks aimed at undermining their work. An independent assessment of the Secretariat’s 2017 partners found they formed an “impressive whole” worthy of continued support and noted the level of coordination and collaboration amongst them as “unprecedented in the region.” Initially, the program included provision of funds for the three years 2014-2016 with a total grant amount of USD 15 Million, including core, project and emergency funding. However, during the extension year 2017, the Secretariat supported the 24 strategic partners with supplementary core funds for a total amount of $5.5 million. Grant funds continued to support work throughout the oPt across ten key inter-connected HR/IHL related themes. Examples of results within the program are the long-term litigation efforts that led to several critical achievements in 2017 including two separate rulings protecting residency rights of Palestinian Jerusalemites and recognising Palestinians as an “indigenous population” with a “unique status” in the city; securing legal status for over 1,500 spouses in East Jerusalem; the evacuation and dismantling of Amona settlement, a partial injunction freezing the operative parts of the Settlement Regularisation Law, successful challenges to the use of revocation of residency on punitive grounds; and the halting of demolition orders. At the international level, partners jointly made two new submissions to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, followed up on 2016 United Nations Convention Against Torture (UN CAT) recommendations to Israel, and submitted a shadow report on CEDAW for both Israel and Palestine. The Secretariat’s Palestinian partners were also instrumental in contesting a range of Palestinian legislation and regulations threatening to undermine basic freedoms; such as securing the suspension of the amendment to the Penal Code and a law by decree pertaining to the High Criminal Court and mobilising widespread civil society protest to the new Cybercrime Law and salary cuts to civil servants in Gaza. They engaged with representatives from over a dozen ministries and local authorities as well as the judiciary to build greater accountability on a diversity of issues like GBV, protection of women and children, workers’ rights and public freedoms. In addition, Palestinian partners continued to use opportunities for enhanced accountability created by the PA’s accession to key international treaties and conventions such as CEDAW and CAT. CSO partners were likewise at the forefront of several significant domestic and international advocacy campaigns that brought together broad alliances of actors to expose particularly urgent impact of rights violations and mobilise support for positive change. Among these were campaigns to halt child detention, end electricity cuts to Gaza, facilitate access to health care for Gazan women with breast cancer, protect human rights defenders and protect freedom of the press. In addition, CSO partners continued to provide legal aid and counselling to thousands of Palestinians seeking protection and redress for rights violations. Thousands of men and women, youth and children from across the oPt gained knowledge on a wide range of rights issues and were empowered to pursue collective action in support of their realisation. As a result, women’s representation in unions increased; child representatives engaged with government representatives to demand their rights; persons with disabilities enjoyed greater access to public spaces; women were elected and empowered to take leadership roles in local councils; networks of traditional and religious leaders supported efforts to end violence against women; and young people led community-based initiatives in support of social and economic rights. In general, over the four-year period, partners work with rights holders, particularly marginalised communities, and engagement with duty bearers at national and international levels has increased in both quality and scale. Many CSO partners also demonstrated progress in other key areas indicative of integrating a rights-based approach and/or targeted as capacity building priority areas during the program´s inception period. Partner satisfaction with the Secretariat grew in 2017, especially in terms of the Secretariat’s role in networking, communications and dialogue. In reflecting on the Secretariat’s most important contributions to the sector over the program’s tenure, CSO partners highlight the provision of stable, predictable, multi-year funding; donor harmonisation in relation to grant applications and reporting; the Secretariat’s role in fostering space for exchange and collaboration between partner CSOs and the Secretariat’s contributions to capacity building. At the same time, CSOs expressed significant concerns regarding insecurity of funding in 2018 and beyond and its impact on their long-term stability.  

The overall objective of the HR/IHL Secretariat Programme:Contribute to the effective realisation of adherence to HR/IHL in the oPt, and influence the behaviour of the relevant duty bearers to that end, through civil society organisations supported by a consortium of donor countries. Sector level dimensions: Indirect influence of the programme through the work of the partner organisations; 1. Policies changes to promote further respect of International Human Right and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) for the Palestinians by West Bank, Gaza and Israeli authorities.2. Extent to which the Palestinian Authority adheres to international human rights standards.3. Extent of partner CSO policy recommendations/papers used as reference by donors and other sector stakeholders in dialogue with Palestinian and Israeli authorities.4. Extent of effective engagements in associations, coalitions, and networks amongst partner CSOs.5. Extent of media coverage of IHRHL initiatives and outputs of the partner CSOs.