Just Peace Advocates, ICJP Canada, Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA), and Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) condemn the US sanctions on Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al Mezan, three leading Palestinian human rights organizations
On September 4, 2025, the US government imposed sanctions on “Al Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Al Mezan), and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) [for] “directly engag[ing] in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent.”
We condemn these vindictive measures that are based on nothing more than further attempts to avoid accountability for participating in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. While the sanctions are new, the attempts to not only silence, but destroy, Palestinian voices are not. This is a continuation of using imperial and colonial tactics to deny the Palestinian people their legal rights, including their right to self-determination and the right of return. As Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR expressed in their statement on September 4, these measures simply show that the US is threatened by “the impact and role of our advocacy, legal research, and documentation in exposing Israel’s ongoing international crimes.” In response to their calls to action, Just Peace Advocates, ICJP Canada, ACLA, and CLAIHR:
- Condemn the application of Executive Order 14203 as an internationally wrongful act and exert meaningful pressure on the United States to lift all sanctions imposed under Executive Order 14203.
- Stand with and by these organizations and commit to continued support as they face heightened risks of being targeted for carrying out legitimate humans rights work.
- Call on the Canadian government to condemn these sanctions and call for the safety and security on Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR.
- Call on the Canadian government to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions on Israel, as well as a two-way arms embargo.
We remind Canada, and all other State parties to the Rome Statute, of their duty to “cooperate fully with the Court in its investigation and prosecution of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court” (Article 86). Canada should be fully aware of this duty as they “played a crucial role in establishing the International Criminal Court” and the Rome Statute.
“By sanctioning our organisations, the U.S. has chosen to safeguard and entrench Israel’s Zionist settler-colonial apartheid regime and its unlawful occupation.” — Al-Haq
