European Legal Scholars Defend BDS Right for Freedom of Expression
Groundbreaking statement by 200 European legal scholars upholds right to BDS..
London, 09 Rabi’ul Awwal 1438/09 December 2016 (MINA) – Around 200 European legal scholars and practicing lawyers from 15 countries Thursday issued a statement that stands for Palestinian rights and considers the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as “a lawful exercise of freedom of expression,” according to a BDS statement.
Marking the 10-December UN Human Rights Day, which this year raises the slogan, “Stand up for someone’s rights today,” the legal scholars warned in the statement issued in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch that outlawing BDS undermines basic human rights.
“States that outlaw BDS are undermining this basic human right and threatening the credibility of human rights by exempting a particular state from the advocacy of peaceful measures designed to achieve its compliance with international law,” WAFA reported, citing the statement.
“No government ever attempted to outlaw or criminalize the Anti-Apartheid Movement for advocating boycott, disinvestment or sanctions to compel South Africa to abandon its racist policies,” said John Dugard, who served at the International Court of Justice. “BDS should be seen as a similar movement and treated accordingly,” he stated:
Robert Kolb, who served as a legal expert with the Swiss Foreign Ministry, commented:
“The right of citizens to advocate for BDS is part and parcel of the fundamental freedoms protected by the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.”
Eric David, former legal counsel of the Council of Europe and the Belgian government, explained why civil society has increasingly supported BDS against Israel saying:
“It is in response to [the] irresponsible passivity of States that civil society created the BDS movement. Repression of BDS, therefore, comes as support of Israel’s violations of international law, and of the failure of States to perform their commitment made in 2005 to ‘strictly respect the aims and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.’”
Ingrid Jaradat welcomed the legal scholars’ statement on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society that leads the global BDS movement.
“This is a defining moment in the struggle against Israel’s patently repressive legal war on the BDS movement for Palestinian rights,” she said.
“Leading European jurists have now confirmed that advocating and campaigning for Palestinian rights under international law is a legally-guaranteed right for Europeans and indeed all citizens of the world. Israel’s desperate attempts to outlaw the BDS movement and to legally bully its supporters into silence threaten democratic space, the jurists said in their critical statement.”
Jaradat added: “By joining Israel’s anti-democratic war of repression on BDS, the governments of France and the UK have become more isolated than ever. In addition to this definitive endorsement by European legal scholars for the right to BDS, the European Union, as well as the governments of Sweden, Netherlands and Ireland, along with hundreds of European political parties, trade s and civil society organizations, have unequivocally stated their support for the right of citizens to engage in boycotts against the Israeli state.”
BNC’s Europe Campaigns Coordinator Riya Hassan added: “The BDS movement has grown tremendously across Europe in recent years, mainly spurred by popular outrage at Israel’s impunity in entrenching its decades-long regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against the indigenous Palestinian people.”
She went on to say that “this momentous statement by European jurists not only vindicates BDS human rights defenders who have insisted that BDS is protected free speech. It will undoubtedly add a crucial layer of legal protection for European BDS networks and citizens in their efforts to end European complicity in Israel’s regime of oppression, especially in military trade and research, banking, and corporate involvement in Israel’s violations of international law.”
The list of statement signatories includes world-renowned legal figures such as South African jurist John Dugard, who served at the International Court of Justice; Sir Geoffrey Bindman, honorary Queen’s Counsel in the UK; José Antonio Martín Pallín, former Supreme Court judge in Spain; Alain Pellet, Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in France; Guy Goodwin-Gill, former Legal Adviser for the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Eric David, former legal counsel for the Council of Europe and the Belgian government; Robert Kolb, former legal expert with the ICRC and the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Marco Sassòli, former deputy head of the ICRC’s legal division; Michael Mansfield, UK Queen’s Counsel; Lauri Hannikainen, Member of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI); and Géraud de la Pradelle, who led the civic inquiry into the involvement of France in the 2004 Rwanda genocide. (T/R07/R01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
