EU Funded NGOs Propagandize to UN Torture Committee

(Jerusalem) – As the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) carries out its periodic review of Israel, Jerusalem based research organization NGO Monitor released a report on the role of biased NGOs in politicizing the process.  Many of the NGOs who have submitted evidence to the committee are funded by foreign governments and the European Union, and grossly distort international law and human rights values to strengthen an anti-Israel agenda.

More than twenty NGOs submitted statements to the committee, in advance of the review, more than any other country reviewed this session, and reflecting the obsessive focus on Israel.  These submissions include a statement by a coalition of fourteen NGOs such as Adalah, Al-Haq and Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, who have painted a non-credible picture of human rights in Israel.

Rather than focus on issues addressing torture, such as prison conditions or interrogation techniques, the NGOs seek to politicize the UN process by focusing on unrelated issues, such as ‘house demolitions’ public sanitation or the separation barrier.  The submission also claims the travel restrictions placed on Al-Haq’s General Director, Shawan Jabarin is a form of ‘torture’.  Jabarin has an alleged long history of ties to the PFLP terror organization, and Israel’s Supreme Court has repeatedly noted his apparent continued involvement.

These groups ignore that Israel is required under international law pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1373 to ‘prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups by effective border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents’.        

This latest attempt by NGOs to hijack the UN human rights mechanism closely follows similar attempts to demonize Israel at April’s Durban Review Conference.  Yet, these organizations continue to be funded by foreign governments and the European Union.  Adalah is funded by the European Union, while Al-Haq receives funds from the governments of Norway, Sweden, Canada and Ireland.

NGO Monitor’s Executive Director, Prof Gerald Steinberg said, “This is another attempt by politicized NGOs to hijack a UN process in order to promote an anti-Israel agenda.  Rather than allow the committee to fulfill its mandate to combat torture, NGOs are bombarding them with unrelated anti-Israel propaganda.  That foreign governments and the European Union continue to fund this manipulation of human rights is shameful and must be halted.” 

——– ENDS ————  

Editors Notes:

Please click here to view NGO Monitor’s full report on NGO submissions to the UN Committee Against Torture

NGO Monitor was founded to promote transparency, critical analysis and debate on the political role of human rights organizations.  For more information, see our website at

http://www.ngo-monitor.org 

Other recent publications and reports by NGO Monitor include:-

Euro Government Funding Enables Al-Haq ‘Lawfare’ Against UK Ministers – Feb 24, 2009

Betrayed by Silence: NGOs Ignore Gilad Shalit’s Rights  – March 26, 2009

‘Europe’s Hidden Hand’, EU Funding for Political NGOs – March 27, 2008

NGO Monitor’s Executive Director is, Prof. Gerald Steinberg.

Members of NGO Monitor’s International Advisory Board include Elie Wiesel, Prof Alan Dershowitz, Sir Martin Gilbert and R. James Woolsey

For further information, comment or interviews, contact Dan Kosky

E: dan.kosky@ngo-monitor.org" target="_blank">dan.kosky@ngo-monitor.org