WASHINGTON, July 10, 2025—Two recent events demonstrate an alarming escalation in the trend of State efforts to undermine human rights obligations and international law relating to free speech and the right to protest.
The UK government’s decision to ban the non-violent protest group ‘Palestine Action’ under anti-terror laws represents a deeply disturbing attack on fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, enshrined in both domestic and international law. The official labeling and banning of Palestine Action as a terrorist group breaches the UK’s international human rights obligations. Similarly, the announcement by the US government of sanctions targeting Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, constitutes a reprisal for her work seeking accountability for violations of international law and is an indefensible attack against the UN human rights framework.
These measures are not only an assault on those acting in solidarity with Palestinians and in the defense of the obligation to prevent genocide. It is also a chilling warning to human rights institutions and civil society everywhere that environmental defenders, human rights advocates, and anyone who dares to challenge State or corporate crimes could be targeted next. Silencing dissent and criminalising protest further entrenches the UK, the US, and other governments’ ongoing complicity in Israel’s violations of international law.
We call on the UK, the US, and all States to uphold their obligations under international law, to protect the right to protest, to immediately cease reprisals against UN human rights mandate holders, and to end all forms of support that enable genocide, apartheid, and occupation. Now, more than ever, the collective defense of fundamental rights and freedoms is essential to justice and accountability for all. We express our unwavering solidarity with all civilians under assault from genocide and Israel’s wider war of aggression in the region.