Ref: 72/2012

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has sent a submission, in the form of a Memorandum, to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, drawing attention to the unlawful arrest and subsequent arbitrary detention of fishermen in the Gaza Sea.

Israel’s Naval Forces arrest fishermen unlawfully by committing actions that frequently violate customary international humanitarian law provisions relating to the prohibition on the direct targeting of civilians and civilian objects. For the purposes of this memorandum, PCHR applied the Working Group’s own analysis of arbitrary detention; the Working Group determined that detention is deemed arbitrary, as per Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), when the preceding arrest is carried out without the subject of arrest being “informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest” or being “promptly informed of any charges against him,” in accordance with paragraph 2 of the same Article. By applying this analysis, PCHR concludes that Israel is arbitrarily detaining fishermen in the Gaza Sea.Further, the number of arrest and detention incidents is increasing, with more arrest incidents in the first six months of 2012 (40) than occurred during all of 2011 (38).

In this first submission, PCHR wishes to provide the Working Group with an overview of the situation facing fishermen in the Gaza Sea.  At a later date, PCHR will supplement this information for the Working Group by providing an update on the situation, updated statistics and individual complaints, if appropriate. PCHR has also prepared a Factsheet and Legal Briefing Note on this topic.

PCHR will be submitting either Memorandums or Individual Complaints bi-monthly to UN Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs, in an attempt to draw attention to issues facing the Palestinian people.