Legal Expert Opinion

RFP 01/2022: Legal Expert Opinion- Deadline for submission : no later than 13 February 2022, at 16:00h, by hand/courier in a sealed & stamped envelope

The Jerusalem Human Rights Consortium (JHRC), is a consortium of four leading Palestinian human rights organizations native of Jerusalem; The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC), The Land Research Centre (LRC), The Saints Yves Association (St Yves) and the Women’s Centre for legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC).

The consortium is implementing the project “Protecting Marginalized Communities in East Jerusalem through legal aid, planning and advocacy”, funded by the EU East Jerusalem Programme. The overall objective of the project is to support the marginalized Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, increase their resilience, prevent forcible transfer and reinforce the Palestinian identity of East Jerusalem. Over the course of the project, the consortium and its member organizations will support the resilience of Palestinian Jerusalemite communities through the provision of legal aid, land planning assistance, and local and international advocacy efforts.

The legal aid efforts the consortium organizations will provide can be broken down into

• House Demolitions
• Residency Rights
• Social & Economic Rights
• GBV and Family Rights due to Israeli discriminatory laws and policies
• Public Interest Cases

The JHRC is hosted by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC), and thus JLAC acts as the legal representative of the JHRC.

“On 5 February 2021, the Chamber decided, by a majority, that the Court may exercise its criminal jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine, and that the territorial scope of this jurisdiction extends to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In its majority ruling, the Chamber stressed that it was not determining whether Palestine fulfilled the requirements of statehood under public international law, or adjudicating a border dispute, or prejudging the question of any future borders; it was solely determining the scope of the Court's territorial jurisdiction for the purposes of the Rome Statute, as requested. Such matters, which the Chamber did not decide, and on which my Office took no position, remain to be determined in bilateral discussions between Israeli and Palestinian authorities in the context of a negotiated agreement .”

Having assessed submissions from states, international organizations and other stakeholders, the Chamber was otherwise unanimous in its view that Palestine is a State Party to the Rome Statute. The majority also ruled that Palestine's referral of the Situation obliged the Office to open an investigation, the Office having determined that there existed a reasonable basis to do so in accordance with the Rome Statute criteria.

Objective: To give an expert opinion on the prospects created by the ICC confirming criminal Jurisdiction over Palestine for persecuting Israel over issues related to East Jerusalem and the Israeli’s settlements.

The JHRC is looking for an expert opinion, with a deep understanding of the peculiar situation of Palestinian Jerusalemites, to clarify, explain and provide opinion on the subject matter, which the JHRC and its partner organizations can later use to design their legal and advocacy interventions.

To best fulfil the required tasks the expert will coordinate the execution with the consortium Director and Senior Advocacy Coordinator.

The expert opinion in this issue will be delivered in English.

Full ToR is attached.