2019-09-08

Gaza Strip

Human Rights Defenders / Gaza / Announcement

Success Story | The Legislative Council in Gaza Adopts MUSAWA's Recommendations Regarding the Militarization of Police

During a meeting held in its headquarter in Gaza, in the presence of Fatah members, the Legislative Council enforced the Military Justice Amendment Act of 2008.  

The Law Amendment Act includes modifications of the Military Justice jurisdictions provided in article 63 of the original act, including exempting its power to consider and prosecute police officers for committing crimes related to their functional capacities in conformity with article 96 of the Judicial Authority Act and article 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The mentioned amendment complies with the competences of this type of Judiciary and conforms to the Basic Law fundamentals and the principles of justice in a manner that shall settle the dispute between the Civil and Military Judiciaries, resolve their issue of overlapping jurisdictions, preserves the citizens’ rights and freedoms, and guarantee the community’s safety and security.

It is worth mentioning that this amendment occurred at the backdrop of MUSAWA’s memo, in which it cautioned against enforcing the Military Justice Law No. 4 of 2008 in the Southern governorates, as in the third paragraph of its 63rd article, which has subjected the civilian police to the military judiciary in case any of its officers committed violations or crimes related to their functional capacities. In response, MUSAWA conducted a round table meeting on militarizing the police and its implications on the right to access to justice. The meeting was held at MUSAWA’s office in Gaza, and it resulted in a number of recommendations, most notably taking the initiative of demanding the cancelation of Article 63 of the Military Justice law of 2008, ending the contradiction between the two texts, identifying their dependencies, and adhering to the Basic Law, particularly the part that provides for limiting the jurisdiction of the military justice to military affairs, which was considered in the legislative council’s latest amendment.  

Issued on 8/9/2019