Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) expresses its deep concern and condemnation of escalating death threats and intimidation against human rights defenders based in The Hague working on International Criminal Court-related issues. Threats to human rights defenders are a threat to freedom and democracy that must be firmly rejected and treated with the utmost urgency by national authorities.

In particular, PGA condemns the threats to life and security that an Al-Haq human rights lawyer based in The Hague received on her personal mobile phone and home address as well as those received through the hacking of a personal email account of one of Amnesty International’s staff members in The Hague. Al-Haq is a Palestinian NGO that is affiliated with the international NGO, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).

In light of the constant threats and attacks that human rights defenders are subjected to worldwide, PGA calls upon all competent authorities to continue taking appropriate measures to ensure the security and protection of human rights defenders. In this context, we highlight the particularly important role of Parliamentarians in implementing appropriate mechanisms to provide security and protection for human rights defenders in order to enable them to pursue their crucial work, including scrutiny and oversight of the activities carried out by the Executive in this critical area.

In this particular situation, the Dutch authorities have initiated an investigation and have set up protection measures. PGA calls upon relevant Dutch authorities to continue the investigation into these threats as a matter of priority. It is essential, not only to secure protection and security of human rights defenders in the territory of The Netherlands, but also to prosecute the authors of serious threats in order to send the right message that this type of action will not be allowed under the Rule of Law.

PGA stands in solidarity with all human rights defenders struggling to continue their work in a safe environment. PGA also reiterates its call for the creation and implementation of a permanent mechanism to protect NGO representatives working in The Netherlands, pursuant to relevant international norms and standards, including the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in order to enable them to freely and safely defend human rights. PGA further calls upon the Dutch government, as the Host State of the ICC, to establish a focal point for NGO staff working on international justice issues in The Netherlands as one of the measures to create an environment which promotes and encourages the work of organizations that support the ICC mandate.