Not Everyone Is Equal Before the Law in Israel: Daily Brief

Israeli police and authorities appear to have treated citizens differently based on whether they are Jewish or Palestinian during civil unrest in May in Lod (al-Lydd), a mixed Jewish and Palestinian city in central Israel. While law enforcement agencies used inflammatory language and excessive force while dispersing Palestinians protesting peacefully, authorities failed to act even-handedly as Jewish ultra-nationalists attacked Palestinians, new Human Rights Watch research finds. The killings of a Palestinian man and a Jewish Israeli during the Lod violence have also been handled in starkly different ways by both Israeli authorities and courts. Unrest in Lod and other cities in Israel and the West Bank took place in May against the backdrop of efforts to force Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, the use of force by Israeli security forces against protesters and worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and the eruption on May 10 of hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza that lasted until May 21. The Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory established by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May should investigate these apparently discriminatory practices.

Although Kenya, like other low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa, has struggled to access enough Covid-19 vaccines for its population, authorities have announced that from December 21 on anyone seeking government services will need to provide proof of full Covid-19 vaccination. The services affected will include public transportation, education, immigration, hospitals, and prison visitation. Proof of vaccination will also be mandatory for entering national parks, hotels, and restaurants. Given that only approximately 10 percent of adults in Kenya had been vaccinated by the end of November, and that the country does not have a sufficient supply of vaccines to ensure that all adults can be vaccinated by the Health Ministry’s deadline, the requirement risks violating the rights to work, health, education, and social security for millions of Kenyans. 

A prominent Vietnamese human rights activist and blogger goes on trial today in the country’s capital, Hanoi, for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. Pham Doan Trang is a prolific writer and advocate for free expression, press freedom, LGBTI and women’s rights as well as environmental issues and has long been involved in peaceful protests against government policies. Trang has been held in pretrial detention for a year without access to a lawyer. Meanwhile, a hearing against two land rights activist, Nguyen Thi Tam and Trinh Ba Phuong, is scheduled for tomorrow. The two were arrested in June 2020 for violating Article 117 of the Penal Code which broadly prohibits “making, storing, disseminating or propagandizing information, materials and products that aim to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, and which has been used repeatedly to intimidate and shut down people peacefully protesting against land confiscation. If convicted, all three face lengthy prison terms.

For over a decade, numerous prominent Bahraini political activists, rights defenders and journalists have languished in prison following unfair trials, partly because the country’s powerful allies, like the United States and the United Kingdom, have failed to speak out against Bahrain’s serious human rights violations. The country has one of the highest incarceration rates per capita in the Middle East. Prisoners’ health, inhumane prison conditions, ill-treatment, and medical negligence are of great concern. Bahraini authorities should use the customary pardon of prisoners on the country’s National Day, December 16, to free those imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and expression. 

And lastly: Climate activists are increasingly suing governments and companies to take action against climate change – and winning! While the number of climate change-related cases has more than doubled since 2015, according to a report authored by Kaya Axelsson of Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute and colleagues, the last few years have seen a snowballing of court rulings that are giving activists a new sense of hope. One of the most high-profile cases, the BBC’s Future Planet reports, was a Dutch case in 2015, in which a court ruled that The Netherlands' government has a duty of care when it comes to protecting its citizens from climate change. As a result, the Dutch government closed a power plant four years earlier than planned and introduced a new climate plan in 2019. Elsewhere cases have led to similar rulings – including in Germany, whose top court in April this year ruled that a German 2019 climate change law does not adequately regulate greenhouse gas emission reduction goals from 2030 onwards, and so violates the government’s obligation to protect the human rights of the young people who brought the case.