As national civil liberties and human rights organizations, and as members of INCLO, united by our undeterred commitment to the principles of justice, accountability, and the protection of fundamental freedoms, we stand in solidarity with our member Al-Haq who was recently designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the ICC-related Executive Order 14203.

Al-Haq is a widely respected Palestinian human rights organization with decades of experience documenting human rights violations and advocating for international accountability. By being added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, Al-Haq and two other major Palestinian organizations, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), now face sweeping financial and political consequences. Others have similarly been targeted under the same executive order, which was introduced to sanction those perceived to be supporting the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in ways that conflict with U.S. government positions.

This designation marks a dangerous escalation in the ongoing effort to undermine legitimate human rights work and discredit organizations seeking justice through international legal mechanisms. It follows a broader pattern of attacks on Palestinian civil society, including the 2021 unlawful criminalization of Al-Haq and other groups as “terrorist organizations” by Israeli authorities — allegations widely condemned by the UN, EU member states, and global human rights actors as unfounded and politically motivated.

We are deeply concerned that the use of financial sanctions against human rights defenders and organizations engaged in legal advocacy sets a devastating precedent. It chills global civil society, weakens multilateral human rights institutions, and signals a willingness by powerful states to criminalize accountability efforts when they are politically inconvenient. It also signals a threat to organizations around the world that act in solidarity with Palestinian organizations and their causes.

We affirm the critical role of civil society — including Al-Haq and similarly affected human rights groups — in upholding international law, documenting abuses, defending the rights of marginalized communities, and supporting victims of human rights violations.

We call on:

• the U.S. government to immediately revoke the sanctions against Al-Haq and other affected human rights organizations;
• the international community — especially states committed to the rule of law and multilateralism — to unequivocally condemn the use of sanctions by the United States to silence or disparage legitimate human rights work and to use pressure on the United States to revoke these sanctions.

In solidarity,

1. Agora International Human Rights Group – Russia
2. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – USA
3. Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
4. Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)
5. Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad (Dejusticia) – Colombia
6. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) – Argentina
7. Conectas Direitos Humanos – Brazil
8. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
9. Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL)
10. Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) – Australia
11. Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) – India
12. Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU)
13. Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
14. The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) – Indonesia
15. Legal Resources Centre (LRC) – South Africa
16. Liberty (UK)