During this year, the ICHR received (5) complaints concerning the violation of the right to
association, (4) of which relate to the security vetting, which affected the associations during the
completion phase of the registration process, or their inability to open or activate bank accounts,
one complaint concerning the closure of the association without taking into account the standards
established by the Law on Charities and NGOs and its executive regulations.
Applications for association registration continued to be subjected to security vetting by the
security services, in violation of the Cabinet's decision to abolish the security vetting condition and
in violation of the Supreme Court's 2012 ruling on public officials, which considered the security
vetting condition to be contrary to the basic law. Additionally, subjecting financial transactions of
for the not for the-profit company, including human rights CSOs in Gaza Strip, to prior approval
by the Council of Ministers, which restricts the right to assembly and unionization, especially that
forming assemblies, as indicated by the Special Repertoire on the Situation of Human Rights
Defenders, represents a genuine factor in the right to assembly and in ensuring the freedom of
action for the CSOs, while stressing that the issue of funding for associations is considered to be
basic for enjoying the right to forming assemblies. He also stressed that within the context of
democratic reforms taking place in many countries of the world and discussions on the 2030
Development Goals Agenda, it is the duty of states to facilitate, not restrict, access to funding for
associations, including from foreign sources, so that they can actively participate in the democratic
process and participate in the development process.
In addition, the decision of the former Minister of Interior in the dismissed government in Gaza
No. 48 of 2010 prohibiting civil employees, under Palestinian government in Ramallah, from
joining general associations in charitable societies and non-governmental organizations or working
as employees therein or members of the board of directors. According to which, no board of
directors of the aforementioned societies is approved if there are any of those employees among
its members. This constitutes an additional restriction of the right to form and join associations.
The ICHR affirms its previous recommendations, contained in its annual report no. (twenty-fourth)
and recommends that the Ministry of Interior should stop requiring security vetting, which is used
in dealing with associations as a discriminatory measure, thus represents a restriction of the
citizens' right to join charitable societies. There is a need for the Palestinian Monetary Authority
to supervise empowerment of associations to have active bank accounts, by instructing banks,
operating in the Gaza Strip, to facilitate procedures for opening bank accounts. Additionally, there
is a need for the Ministry of Interior in Gaza to adhere to the role stipulated by the law, regarding
using the unified electronic system and not to create or impose roles or jurisdiction beyond that.
Topic eighth: The Right to have Public Office
On January 2, 2019, the President issued Decree Law No. (2) of 2019 to amend Civil Service Law
No. (4) of 1998 and its amendments, which included the amendment of the first paragraph of the
text of Article (87) of the Civil Service Law, related to the unpaid leave requested by the employee
to accompany his wife on travel. The amendment stipulated the aforementioned unpaid leave