Washington: The human rights office of the UN expressed grave concern over the designation of the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration. UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Turk stated that such an action is an "unnecessary restriction on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association as well as the right to participate in public affairs." He went on to add that, "expansive use of the term 'terrorism' has been documented to have a chilling effect on civic space."
This comes after the US, on August 26, designated the Palestine Action as a terrorist group, after expressing its intent to crack down on left-wing groups in terms of counterterrorism efforts. Earlier in July, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio had reiterated that Washington aims to reprioritize international counterterrorism efforts on "far-left terror".
Palestine Action is UK based direct action movement which was founded in 2020. It is committed to ending the international participation that facilitates Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime. Palestine Action primarily uses disruptive tactics to target corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex along with seeking to ensure that the relevant companies do not profit from the oppression of Palestinians.
The main target of Palestine Action is Elbit Systems; an Israel-based international military technology company and defense contractor as well as the biggest weapons producer for Israel. Additionally, it also campaigns to shut down companies and institutions linked to them.
It is pertinent to note that previously the UK had also banned the direct-action protest network shortly after it broke into a Royal Air Force's base, in June 2025. The UK ban led to widespread protests followed by mass arrests by the authorities.
Prominent UN officials as well as senior scholars condemned the US for this move claiming that such steps appear designed to silence dissenting voices. Au contraire, Israel welcomed the designation.
