Press Releases
10 August 2010 |Reference 68/2010
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Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights has followed several cases of Palestinian citizens from the Gaza Strip who were deprived from their right to obtain a passport.
On 17 June 2010, Al Mezan sent a letter to Dr.
Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Ramallah Government, urging him to stop this violation of the Palestinian Basic Law.
Al Mezan deplores the neglecting of citizens' complaints and calls for issuing passports to all citizens without discrimination.
It is essential to stop pushing people into a political split and violate their rights.
Governments must ensure work towards securing basic needs and respecting and protecting their citizens’ rights.
Al Mezan has not received a response to several complaints it had conveyed to the Palestinian Care-taker Government in Ramallah in 2010.
More complainants visited Al Mezan’s offices for similar reasons; including patients whose lives were in danger.
The Legal Assistance Unit at Al Mezan sent three complaints on behalf patients to the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in Ramallah, as follows:
· On 21 July 2010, Al Mezan sent a complaint on behalf of a cancer patient, Ahmed Abu Fou'ad;
· On 21 July 2010, Al Mezan sent a complaint on behalf of Mohammed Subeh, who lost an eye and needs a transplant;
· On 10 August 2010, Al Mezan sent a complaint on behalf of a paramedic, Alaa' Sarhan, who needs to undergo a surgery in the urinary system and extract shrapnel from his body.
However, Al Mezan has not yet received a response regarding any of these complaints.
On 7 July 2010, the Palestinian Human Rights NGOs Council, which brings together most of Palestinian human rights organizations, sent a complaint regarding the same problem to Mr.
Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Ramallah Government.
But there has been no progress in the case.
Al Mezan views with deep concern the neglecting of citizens' complaints and depriving them of their rights to obtain passports.
This practice violates citizens' basic rights; including the right to free movement and travel; which could extend to other violations such as the right to education, work, to access to healthcare, and to practice one’s religious.
Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights calls on the Ramallah Government to take the necessary procedures to ensure that the governmental institutions, particularly the MoI, do not discriminate between citizens on the basis of their opinion, political affiliation, or any other kinds of discrimination that violate human and citizen rights and; therefore, constitute flagrant violations to human rights and to the principle of the rule of law.
Ends
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