UN urged to counter criminalization of solidarity with Palestine

PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, Paris, June 5, 2025

Urgence Palestine, CETIM and their partners submit a petition to the UN Human Rights Mechanisms regarding the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine in France and the risk of dissolution of the organization “Urgence Palestine”.

In a notification dated April 29, 2025, the French government, through the Ministry of the Interior, announced its intention to dissolve URGENCE PALESTINE.

URGENCE PALESTINE is a political organization founded by Palestinians in exile and their allies against genocide in Gaza, colonialism and apartheid. It organizes demonstrations, conferences, cultural events and training courses, and brings together several thousand citizens from all walks of life through 23 local sections in France. URGENCE PALESTINE is the main organization for Palestinians in France, and one of the main organizations mobilized in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Supported by the Centre Europe-Tiers Monde (CETIM), an NGO with consultative status within the United Nations Economic and Social Council, URGENCE PALESTINE is backed by a strong popular mobilization (already over 250,000 signatures on the petition against the dissolution) and supported by over 1,000 organizations (including leading trade unions, political parties and associations). The organization intends to use all the means at its disposal to fight for fundamental rights and freedoms, and against the censorship of Palestinian voices and all those who speak out against the genocide in Palestine.

It is in this context that a complaint was filed today with the United Nations. Through this action, URGENCE PALESTINE and CETIM denounce a clear violation of France’s international obligations, in particular the right to freedom of expression and association. More broadly, this complaint highlights France’s policy of criminalizing Palestinians, and any voice raised to denounce the genocide perpetrated by the State of Israel over the past year and a half.

In addition to the proposed dissolution of URGENCE PALESTINE, on May 21, 2025 the French government froze the assets of one of URGENCE PALESTINE’s spokespersons. These administrative repressive measures are being taken even though no legal proceedings have been brought against URGENCE PALESTINE, and are aimed at silencing the voice of URGENCE PALESTINE and, in absentia, that of others expressing their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

For all these reasons, it is both obvious and essential that we now take our case to the competent mechanisms of the multilateral human rights system (UN). We intend to mobilize this organization, which has a mandate to protect human rights, to call on the French government to address the situation of Urgence Palestine, and to put an end to any attempt to criminalize international solidarity.

We won’t give up! We are continuing our fight for the liberation of Palestine, for freedoms, for peace and for respect for human rights and international law.

Contacts

Urgence Palestine
contact@urgence-palestine.fr
+33 6 59 95 11 95
CETIM
Raffaele Morgantini, CETIM Representative to the UN, raffaele@cetim.ch, +41796606514