By NNN-KUNA,
Brussels : The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) has called on the 27-member European bloc to exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to put an end to the serious violations of international humanitarian law taking place in Gaza and to demand the immediate cessation of Israel’s unlawful measures of collective punishment against civilians.
The EMHRN, in a statement Thursday ahead of the annual meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council scheduled to take place in Luxembourg on Monday at the sidelines of the EU foreign ministers meeting, expressed “its deep concern over the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation of Palestinians inside Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
Brussels-based EMHRN is a network gathering more than 80 human rights organisations from 30 countries in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Referring to ongoing secret discussions regarding the upgrading of EU-Israel relations, the EMHRN called upon the EU and Israel to abide by their human rights commitments as stipulated in their Association Agreement. “We urge that the deepening of relations between the two parties be conditioned on the fulfilment of these human rights commitments,” it said.
The EMHRN called on the EU to put pressure on Israel to put an end to restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians, to cease its policy of land dispossession, home demolition and end torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees by Israel Security Authority interrogators.