The UN commissioner warned that the plans would violate international law and fundamental human rights standards.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has urged Israeli authorities to abandon proposed legislation that would introduce mandatory death sentences applying exclusively to Palestinians.
The UN commissioner warned that the plans would violate international law and fundamental human rights standards.
A series of bills currently before the Israeli Knesset seek to lower the threshold for imposing capital punishment, including by mandating death sentences in certain cases.
Türk said the proposals raise “serious concerns with respect to discrimination against Palestinians and violation of their due process rights,” as well as broader breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law.
“When it comes to the death penalty, the United Nations is very clear, and opposes it under all circumstances,” Türk said in a statement on Friday. “It is profoundly difficult to reconcile such punishment with human dignity and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people.”
The High Commissioner stressed that the proposed laws are incompatible with Israel’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), particularly the right to life.
“In particular, the introduction of mandatory death sentences, which leave no discretion to the courts, violate the right to life,” he said.
According to the UN rights office, the legislation would amend military law applicable in the occupied West Bank, requiring military courts to impose mandatory death penalties for all convictions of intentional killing. Separate amendments to Israel’s Penal Law would introduce the death penalty for the intentional killing of Israelis in acts defined as terrorism.
Türk said the proposals appear explicitly discriminatory. “The proposal also raises other human rights concerns, including on the basis that it is discriminatory given it will exclusively apply to Palestinians,” he said, adding that “the language of such legislation, along with statements from Israeli politicians, indicate that this is intended to apply only to Palestinians, who are often convicted after unfair trials.”
The UN also warned that parts of the legislation could apply retroactively to individuals convicted in connection with the 7 October 2023 attacks, a move Türk said would violate the principle of legality under international law.
Further concerns were raised over the broad and vague definitions used in the proposals, including provisions covering acts of “terrorism, racism or hostility towards the public,” which the High Commissioner said could enable arbitrary application of the death penalty.
Türk added that the proposals violate international humanitarian law governing occupied territories. He recalled that residents of an occupied territory are entitled to strict fair trial guarantees under the Fourth Geneva Convention. “Denying any Palestinian from the West Bank and Gaza the fair trial guarantees set out in the Fourth Geneva Convention amounts to a war crime,” he said.
The UN human rights office called on Israeli lawmakers to halt the legislative process and ensure that any criminal justice measures comply with international law and uphold the principles of equality, due process, and the protection of life.