GENEVA, October 29, 2017 – An independent monitoring group is asking UN chief Antonio Guterres to explain why the world body is planning to spend $18 million across 16 different agencies to fund Palestinian lawfare campaigns against Israel in “international accountability mechanisms” — a reference presumably to the UN Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court.

According to a document signed between the UN and the “Government of Palestine,” that “presents the strategic programming framework of the United Nations system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” for 2018-2022 — to go into effect on January 1, 2018 — the UN will provide “training, capacity-building and technical advice” to ensure that “Palestinian victims” and institutions make effective use of “international accountability mechanisms” in order to “hold Israel accountable” for its “violations under international law.”

Out of $1.3 billion in total spending, at least $18 million is for anti-Israel lawfare.

The UN will “increase its support” for Palestinian institutions and “Palestinian victims of violations” to “monitor, advocate and seek legal recourse for violations by the occupying power,” meaning Israel.

While the document, reported first by Israeli news site nrg, makes passing reference to the need for Palestinian elections, the UN nowhere refers to or presumes any “Palestinian violations.”

Notably, the $1.3 billion is not for humanitarian assistance, but rather “focused on development programming,” which includes as its first priority the “core programming area” of “supporting Palestine’s path to independence.”

The 16 signatory UN agencies — which include the U.N. human rights office (OHCHR), UNESCO, UNRWA, OCHA, UNDP and UN Women — promise “to uphold accountability” against Israel by “strengthening capacities to document violations” and Palestinian groups’ “ability to advocate effectively for rights to be respected.”

The UN will also strengthen its own advocacy on “the impact of Israeli violations,” including through “joint activities that clearly communicate the effect that the occupation and breaches of international law have on the ability of Palestine to develop.”

REACTION BY UN WATCH

“There is no other example or precedent of the UN funding, training, and advising one side of a conflict to pursue legal advocacy against another side within UN bodies and other international mechanisms,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based monitoring group.

“Mr. Guterres has said that the State of Israel needs to be treated as any other state, with exactly the same rules. Well, needless to say, the UN does not fund, train or advise Palestinian victims of Palestinian violations, or Israeli victims of Palestinian stabbings, car-ramming attacks and shootings, to pursue legal recourse.”

“Nor does the UN fund, train or advise Kurdish victims of Turkish, Iraqi or Iranian human rights violations, Yemeni victims of Saudi and Iranian violations of international law, or Tibetan victims of Chinese violation of human rights.”

“For some reason, however, when it comes to Israel, the UN development agencies cross the bright red line from humanitarian assistance to political advocacy.”

“We call on the United States, Canada, Australia and other democracies to ensure that their taxpayer contributions are not being misused to undermine UN institutions through an escalation of politicized attacks on Israel.”

“It is unacceptable that agencies such as UN Women are misusing U.S. taxpayer contributions to fund and train Palestinians to make submissions to the Human Rights Council to the effect that when Palestinians men beat their wives, it’s Israel’s fault.”

No joke: @UNHumanRights to help spend $1.3 billion taxpayer dollars for Palestinians to advocate against #Israel before @UNHumanRights fora. pic.twitter.com/SPmOXFyBw2 — UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 28, 2017

At least U.S. taxpayers not paying for this: #UNESCO to help spend $1.3 billion for PLO to advocate at. . . #UNESCO.https://t.co/TuyQyTtVki pic.twitter.com/EAhYOZ1kq8 — UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 28, 2017



The UN agencies signatory to the new UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) are the following:

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

International Labour Organization (ILO)

International Trade Centre (ITC)

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

United Nations Population Fund (UNPF)

United Nations Habitat (UN-Habitat)

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

United Nations Women (UN Women)

World Food Programme (WFP)

World Health Organization (WHO)

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Excerpt from the report:

The UNCT [UN Country Team] will focus its interventions on providing support for Palestinian institutions, civil society and individuals to increase the effective use of international mechanisms to uphold accountability.

This will be built on increasing knowledge of rights and mechanisms, strengthening capacities to document violations and their impact and on sharpening the ability to advocate effectively for rights to be respected. …

The UN will increase its support for Palestinian institutions (state and non-government) and Palestinian victims of violations to effectively monitor, advocate and seek legal recourse for violations by the occupying power.

This will include training, capacity-building and technical advice to ensure that Palestinian victims and institutions are equipped with the knowledge and tools to effectively access international accountability mechanisms in order to hold Israel accountable for its violations under international law. It will also aim to strengthen the capacity of Palestinian organizations to advocate effectively for the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territory.

The UN will also strengthen its own advocacy on the impact of Israeli violations on Palestine’s development prospects, including through joint activities that clearly communicate the effect that the occupation and breaches of international law have on the ability of Palestine to develop economically, socially, environmentally and politically, including the responsibility of Israel vis-à-vis Palestine’s implementation of the SDGs.

The UN produced the following FAQ: