Statement by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee: Revoke planned international NGO ban, humanitarian leaders urge Israeli authorities

We urge the Israeli authorities to reconsider their plan to ban many of the international NGOs operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

International NGOs are central to humanitarian operations in OPT, collectively delivering close to $1 billion dollars in assistance each year.

In Gaza in particular, as winter compounds to families' suffering, as high acute food insecurity persists and as the need for life-saving aid is as critical as ever, banning NGOs risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire. The consequences for
vulnerable children, women and men, will be devastating.

Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law and fundamental for the protection of human rights.

Signatories:

• Mr. Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
• Dr. Qu Dongyu, Director General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• Mr. Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis
• Ms. Nimo Hassan, MBE, Chair, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
• Mr. Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
• Mr. Tom Hart, President and Chief Executive Officer, InterAction
• Ms. Amy E. Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Ms. Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer, Mercy Corps
• Mr. Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• Ms. Abby Maxman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Oxfam
• Ms. Janti Soeripto, President and Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children
• Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (SR on HR of IDPs)
• Mr. Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Ms. Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlement Programme
• (UN-Habitat)
• Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• Ms. Diene Keita, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
• Ms. Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women
• Ms. Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)
• Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO)