COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERS REPORT OF ISRAEL 17 November 2011 http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/A62313D2BBFDFCA0C125794B004A12DB?OpenDocument The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the third periodic report of Israel on that country’s implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Introducing the report, Arthur Lenk, Director, Department of International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that, literally, in the midst of all of the change surrounding the “Arab Spring”, the Israeli-Palestinian issue remained a constant, and was certainly relevant to Israel’s implementation of the Covenant. Threats continued on a daily basis for Israelis. Despite the devastating attacks expressly directed towards Israeli citizens, Israel imposed significant restraints on its own actions to conform with principles of international human rights law. There were four new pieces of legislation relating to Covenant issues: on promotion of food and nutrition security, a Students’ Rights Law, the amended Equal Employment Opportunities Law, and a law on women’s rights in the work place. In June 2011 Israel’s Supreme Court affirmed that access to water was a basic human right. The Government was acutely cognizant of the challenges faced by Israel’s minority communities, and hoped to significantly reduce economic and social gaps between the Bedouin population in the Negev and Israeli society as a whole. A standing, inter-ministerial human rights monitoring committee had been established to coordinate action, promote and make recommendations on human rights issues. Committee Experts raised questions about the occupied Palestinian territories, about the State party’s control of those territories, the security fence, forced evictions and in general the access of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem to their rights under the Covenant. Experts asked about unemployment rates for minority groups and women, the pay gap and programmes aimed at improving the lives of persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities. Experts also asked questions about potential discrimination caused by benefits given to those who completed mandatory military service, water sources in the region, the rights of domestic workers, access to healthcare, the right to education – particularly for Arab Israelis, trafficking of persons and sex tourism. Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay, Chairperson of the Committee, in concluding remarks, maintained the Committee’s position that the State party of Israel was under a legal obligation to report on the situation of the occupied territories of Palestine. He noted that many of the concerns in the concluding observations of 2003 were still outstanding today. In order to improve its obligations under the Covenant, Israel must take into account the Committee’s recommendations and act upon them. Also in concluding remarks, Mr. Lenk said that while there were disagreements Israel very much respected the Committee’s point of views, and would take the views and opinions home, and factor them into all three branches of Government. The Israeli delegation consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Constitutional Litigation Department, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Services, the National Insurance Institute, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour, the Israel Defence Forces and the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations Office at Geneva. The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Friday 18 November when it will begin consideration of the first periodic report of Turkmenistan (E/C.12/TKM/1) Report The third periodic report of Israel E/C.12/ISR/3 states that new legislation since the submission of Israel’s previous periodic report include the Increasing Participation in the Workforce and Reducing Social Gaps Law which endeavours to reduce poverty and increase workforce participation rates, while the Women’s Employment Law ensures a full range of rights for working women, including job security and maternity provisions. The Compulsory Education Law mandates compulsory education for youth between 15 and 17, while the Free Education for Sick Children Law provides an educational framework for children in hospitals or at home due to long-term illness. In 2006 the Supreme Court took the step of recognizing civil marriages which had taken place between Jewish Israeli residents and citizens outside of Israel, and recognize a landmark decision regarding the rights of same-sex couples, whose marriage in a foreign country could now be accepted within Israel. The same ruling allowed two women in a same-sex relationship to adopt each others children. In 2006 the Government started two multi-year plans for the socio-economic development of Arab localities in the North, and for the development of the Bedouin population. A National Strategic Plan for the Development of the Negev was devised, in part, to assist Bedouins living in the Negev, partly by providing 20,000 jobs in the region over ten years, to provide vocational training and develop commercial and industrial areas. In 2007 the Authority for Economic Development of the Arab Population including the Druze and Circassian was established, along with the Investment Fund for Businesses in the Arab Population. There was legislation to ensure that minorities, women, persons with disabilities and Arab, Druze and Circassian persons were represented in the Civil Service, local municipalities and the judiciary, which had seen a significant increase in Arab staff members over the last ten years. Presentation of the Report ARTHUR LENK, Director, Department of International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that for the 64 years of its independence, Israel had continually aspired to live in peace with its neighbours. Israel’s Declaration of Independence enunciated that desire clearly, and Israel had successfully made peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. Israel’s current Government had called for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinian neighbours and hoped that such talks would lead to a two state resolution, in which Israel and Palestine could live side by side in peace and security. As it was at Israel’s birth in the wake of the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, the situation today in the Middle East remained very complex and volatile. Recent events such as the “Arab Spring” gave rise to cautious optimism and hope. At the same time much uncertainty, threats of extremism and violence remained. Literally in the midst of all of the change, the Israeli-Palestinian issue remained a constant, and was certainly relevant to Israel’s implementation of the Covenant. Over the years and even in the last few weeks, Israel had witnessed devastating attacks expressly directed towards Israeli citizens, from Gaza, the West Bank and even from across the Egyptian border in Sinai. Terrorists in Gaza continued to launch rockets aimed at civilian centres in the south of Israel. Mr. Moshe Ami from Ashkelon, 21 kilometres from Gaza, was killed in one such attack. Those threats continued on a daily basis for Israelis. Despite the real dangers, Israel, like other democratic and responsible members of the international community, imposed significant restraints on its own actions to conform with principles of international human rights law. Mr. Lenk noted that data, statistics and information relating to the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza under the Covenant were not available to Israel but rather were monitored and administered by the Palestinians who controlled and independently legislated in those areas. Additionally, Israel had traditionally held views about the applicability of its obligations within the Covenant to those areas. Israel was a diverse, creative and successful democratic society. It had listed more patents in the United States than any other developed country, and six Israelis had won Nobel Prizes in the past decade. Fundamental human rights protections were afforded to every individual in Israel, enshrined via a series of Basic Laws. In the absence of a formal written constitution, those Basic Laws provided the fundamental principles that impacted all aspects of life in Israel. Clearly much still needed to be achieved: there was regular public discussion on those needs, including active participation from civil society, with non-governmental organizations often leading discussion, initiating legislation and playing a key role in the promotion of human rights. Four new pieces of legislation relating to Covenant issues should be noted: the National Council for Nutrition Security Law, to promote food and nutrition security in Israel; an amendment to the Students’ Rights Law which required universities and colleges to help students who were pregnant, on maternity leave, undergoing fertility treatments or those who had become adoptive or foster parents; an amendment to the Equal Employment Opportunities Law and the Encouragement of the Advancement and Integration of Women in the Work Force and the Adjustment of Workplaces to Women’s Needs Law. In June 2011 Israel’s Supreme Court affirmed that access to water was a basic human right. It also issued a decision on the ‘Pregnant Foreign Worker Procedure’, disallowing the provision that foreign workers had to leave Israel within three months of giving birth. The Government was acutely cognizant of the challenges faced by Israel’s minority communities, and hoped that the work of the Goldberg Committee would bring about better integration of Israel’s Bedouin citizens into society and significantly reduce economic and social gaps between the Bedouin population in the Negev and Israeli society as a whole. In addition, in 2011 two additional multi-year plans worth $290 million for the socio-economic development of Druze, Circassian and Bedouin communities in the north were launched, promoting education, housing, employment, tourism, infrastructure and transportation. Finally a standing, inter-ministerial human rights monitoring committee had been established to coordinate action in the field of human rights. Chaired by a Deputy Attorney General, the committee examined, promoted and made recommendations regarding the wide gamut of human rights issues. Questions by the Experts A Committee Expert thanked the delegation for their report and commended their large and diverse delegation. He also thanked Israel’s vibrant and active civil society who had provided information and documents to the Committee over the past few days. Director Lenk referred to progress made since the last report of Israel, including the establishment of a national human rights committee, and the Expert asked whether and when it would be amended to be in line with the Paris Principles. The Covenant had still not been incorporated into national legislation, to the extent that Israeli citizens could not directly call upon their rights. Was the Optional Protocol under consideration by the Government and did Israel intend to become a party to it? The Committee had previously recommended, in 2003, that Israel take steps to ensure that all persons living in Israel had access to their rights under the Covenant. However there was concern about a rising number of recently-adopted laws which discriminated against persons depending on their ethnic origin, namely whether the individual was of Arab origin or not. In many ways Israel was economically successful, which created an enabling environment for economic and social rights; this was illustrated by Israel becoming a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Was Israel also becoming active in the field of development assistance, to assist other countries that were not so well developed in the implementation of the Covenant rights? What was the position of the Covenant in the occupied Palestinian territory? Israel’s position was that the Covenant was not applicable to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem – what the United Nations termed the occupied Palestinian territory. However, in the presentation of the report Mr. Lenk seemed to argue that Israel was prevented from implementing the Covenant in the occupied Palestinian territory by incapacity, which was a different argument. The International Court of Justice ruled on the legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territories, and that it was illegal. The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice was that they could not accept Israel’s view, and that Israel was obliged not to raise any obstacle to the exercise of the rights of the Covenant by Palestinian authorities. The fishing limit of five nautical miles on Gaza was a major concern, as unlike the West Bank Gaza was not rich in natural resources and was a poor region. However there were reports of natural resources in those waters, such as gas. If the Palestinians wanted to exploit those resources to whose authority should they turn? An Expert raised three issues: there were so many projects and efforts it was difficult to see what the Government had done to promote economic, social and cultural rights in general, especially given the high militarization of the country and high defence spending. Could the delegation provide details of Israel’s budget over the past five years: a breakdown of spending by ethnicity, gender, age and so on. Was Israel’s spending on cultural or social projects increasing or decreasing? For whom was military service mandatory and for whom was it optional? Persons who finished military service received educational and other benefits, which was discriminatory towards persons who were excluded from military service. An Expert said it was untrue that Israel had no control over the occupied Palestinian territory: it had air control, control of territories, control over their access to water, basically control over all of their rights. Regarding the demolition of houses, and destruction of crops and trees by settlers, Israel had an obligation to avoid situations where citizens violated the economic, social and cultural rights of others. All of the demolition and destruction had of course had a negative impact on the rights of Palestinians. Had the courts intervened, were there any examples of jurisprudence in that respect? It was understood that the Supreme Court had invoked the Covenant in past rulings: did the Supreme Court make such invocations at the request of the plaintiff? Could the Covenant be transferred into the Israeli legal order, by adoption of a basic law? If the human rights situation was truly vibrant, it could be a good starting point for the political situation. An Expert said the State party needed to address the lack of an anti-discrimination law, although he was impressed with Israel’s efforts to end discrimination against women. Israel was trying to promote women’s presence on peace negotiating teams. The Expert said that perhaps the reason Israel did not have peace was because they did not have enough women on the negotiating teams, as there was little evidence of women’s presence there! Regarding Israeli control of the occupied Palestinian territory, nothing went in, nothing went out, nothing flied over them and nothing went under them without effective Israeli authority. The international community and the International Court of Justice had ruled that Israel should comply with applying human rights under the Covenant in the occupied Palestinian territory – why had Israel not complied? What was the status of human rights defenders, whose safety was not guaranteed in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories? The Special Rapporteur had raised the issue in both 2006 and 2009, and asked the State to ensure the security of human rights defenders who were subject to threats and administrative detention measures. Response of the Delegation Responding to the questions and comments, the delegation said the total budget for social services had increased by around 29 per cent over the past five years. As a percentage of GDP, from 2000 to 2010 around 30 per cent of GDP was spent on social security and public health. Concerning Israel joining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a division of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the Mashav Department, a programme of international cooperation with representatives from all over the world. Israel had been doing this for years, and the first resolution Israel ever tabled at the General Assembly was on promoting agricultural assistance internationally. Israel did not have a constitution but it had a framework of laws within both its Jewish and its national character, the Basic Laws, which stipulated and protected rights. The Convention was not part of Israeli law itself, but was applied in the courts, including in several decisions of the Supreme Court. The Government believed it already had a full system that dealt with national human rights issues, including the ombudsman, so a national human rights commission was not necessary. The Equal Rights for Women law, amended in 2005, provided for mandatory representation of women in all negotiating teams, especially in the peace process. Steps to improve women’s status in public life were being taken, and bills were examined to see if they might have a negative impact on the status of women. The Government was working towards the goal of 50 per cent representation of women. According to the Defence Service Law every Israeli has a duty to serve in the army, except for persons with health or religious reasons, who could be discharged. Persons discharged for those reasons could then volunteer in the army for one to two years, including persons of Arab ethnicity. A volunteer served in different areas and associations and was entitled to the same privileges as a full-time soldier. The Arab youth population were willing to take part in a programme, and numbers had increased to 1,256 Arab persons volunteering. In 2009, a Tel Aviv court ruled that a railway company requirement for employees to have served in the army was discriminatory, and the company changed its rules. In 2005 the Supreme Court rejected a petition for extended mortgage support to persons who had completed military service as being discriminatory to Arabs, but Israel believed in principle that there was nothing wrong with rewarding those who had served in the military. Israel condemned and rejected any violence, regardless of the identity of who enacted it. Every complaint was thoroughly investigated, and referred to the State Attorney’s Office. Allegations of violence by Israeli settlers were given special treatment by a commission consisting of representatives of the State Attorney’s Office, the Police and the Israeli Defence Forces and Israel Security Agency. As an example, Israel recently closed a military academy due to confidential information on violence they promoted and engaged in. Israel had issued three restraining orders on persons accused of violent behaviour in the same locality. Israeli soldiers secured the olive harvest, to ensure persons could work on their land and harvest. Soldiers in the West Bank were instructed to fully cooperate with the Israeli Defence Forces and police, and security forces were quick to arrive to locations of reported disturbances of peace. Soldiers must not only stop reported incidents but also detain the alleged violator until arrival of the police. The activities of the police were scrutinized by the Attorney’s Office. Preventative measures included a closed military zone, which prevented Israelis from going near the olive harvest and made it safe for the owners of the land to work there. Effort was put into preventing friction between Israelis and Palestinians. Most of the violence between Israelis and Palestinians was due to land disputes, but the overall picture was one of increased law enforcement against Israelis in the West Bank. A delegate said the issue of human rights education was extremely important both in Israel and the region. All students, from primary school onwards, were taught about human rights. The disciplinary curricula had subjects called Homeland Society and Citizenship, and Civics, and all members of the Israeli population, Jews, Arabs and Druze, studied those subjects, which included the freedoms, equalities, political rights, the rights of minorities, the system of Government, pluralism and tensions in Israeli society and the shared lives between persons in Israel. Students learnt about different rights, their rationale, limitations and challenges, and their context in the real world. International Human Rights Day was marked annually. Non-governmental organizations were involved in teaching and educating students. Human rights were also dealt with in the subject of geography. Teachers received ongoing training, and last year 1,450 attended courses on human rights and equalities. The independence of the ombudsman was entrenched in law, and regarded very highly. The Supreme Court recently made a landmark decision about water and sewage in the unrecognized villages in southern Israel, which took into account the Covenant and the right to water. The Court stated that right was part of Article 11 and 4 of the Covenant, which had been signed and ratified by Israel. A delegate explained the State party’s two-fold argument for the inapplicability of the Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory. Firstly, although the use of the term jurisdiction in the various international instruments, such as treaty bodies, should be applied to areas in effective control of the State parties, Israel questioned what amounted to effective control. Of course Israel had elements of control in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but that control was not relevant to issues under the Covenant. Education, nutrition, housing and health had for many years been under Palestinian authority and Israel had no effective control over the policy of those issues. Israel did not have the degree of control of interest to the Committee. Secondarily, there were complications with international frameworks such as international humanitarian law and the International Court of Justice, for instance the Law on Armed Conflict. Even if Israel accepted that human rights law applied in areas under effective law, in the special case of the occupied Palestinian territory, where control, power and responsibilities had been transferred, Israel was not in a practical position to do so. However that did not preclude courts from using human rights law as a complementary, alternative source in its ruling on cases concerning the occupied Palestinian territory, although it did not supersede the formal arguments regarding the inapplicability of human rights law to the occupied Palestinian territory. Israel deeply respected the International Court of Justice rulings and its advisory opinions, however some of its rulings had been highly contentious with parties around the world, for example the European Court of Human Rights had issued conflicting rulings, as had the United Kingdom’s House of Lords. Follow-Up Questions Regarding the comments on the International Court of Justice advisory opinion, an Expert said he saw Israel stuck between two views: on one hand saying the Covenant was not applicable and on the other saying they had no control so it was beyond their capacity. In any case the International Court of Justice had found differently. The Expert said he was not aware of the court’s rulings being controversial around the world, and noted that the International Court of Justice judges’ ruling on the wall was a result of a 14 to 1 vote, the largest ever majority in an International Court of Justice vote. The Committee’s position was clear: when Israel’s building of the wall encroached Palestinian land and had a direct impact on their access to food, water, health and security, Israel was, without any doubt, responsible. Palestinians could not consult a doctor because their ambulance could not get through the many road blocks – and there were many such examples – in those specific cases Israel had directly violated the Covenant. Response by the Delegation Concerning international treaties, specifically the Optional Protocol and consideration of a national human rights commission, the delegation said the Government looked at those things regularly. However, like many States, Israel believed that its domestic legislation covered its needs. Israel had taken a forward step of establishing an inter-ministerial human rights committee, and whether one day that adhered to the Paris Principles remained to be seen. The types of aid that Israel emphasized were specifically connected to human rights. Many in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw Israel joining the OECD as a sort of handcuff, and hoped they would be able to do more in coming years. Regarding budgetary questions, the defence budget was 43 per cent of the total Government expenditure; in 1990, 2000 and 2004 the situation had been reversed. Now 24 per cent of Government expenditure went to defence, and 53 per cent to social services, which clearly showed Israel had made good progress. A delegate said that without repeating himself, there were previous examples regarding the applicability of human rights law in territories not regarded as a part of sovereign territory, for instance in the European Court of Human Rights ruling on the NATO bombing of Kosovo or the House of Lords ruling on British action in Iraq. When operations of the Israeli Defence Forces directly impacted on Palestinians, especially in health and housing issues, Israel did try to find practical resolutions in line with military considerations and operative requirements, especially for enabling free movement to receive medical treatment. Irresponsibility was not practiced by Israel. Questions from Experts The unemployment rate has steadily declined to 6.2 per cent in 2010. An Expert asked how the unemployment rate was calculated? Clearly the unemployment rate was higher for the Arab population groups of Israel, who were confined to sub-sectors such as catering, agriculture etcetera, where wages were low. What was the delegation’s response? The available figures showed the pay gap between men and women to be 15 per cent for the hourly wage and 35.8 per cent for the gross monthly salary, which was not insubstantial. What was the Government doing about that? Many agricultural workers were separated from their land by the wall, and had to go through various checkpoints in order to till their fields. Could the delegation comment? The report provided an impressive amount of factual and statistical information on persons with disabilities. Nevertheless, in spite of many measures being taken by the Government, improvement in the employment rate for persons with disabilities was only moderate, and their unemployment rate was high. A very high 17.6 per cent of the employment-age population of Israel were persons with disabilities. Why were the Government’s measures so ineffective? How many members of minority communities were represented at the top levels of the civil service? Also what were the average wages and salaries, and the employment rates of the minority communities compared to the majority community or the population as a whole? If those figures showed disparity, were there efforts being made to narrow these disparities? Was the Government’s policy of reducing child allowances continuing? There was a trend of reducing social security payments, was that also continuing? Israel controlled all water sources in the country, including rivers, and it was clear that some rivers were diverted or over-exploited by the State party. As a result there was inequality regarding access to water – settlers in northern villages had 400 litres of water per day, whereas the Palestinians had 70-80 litres today, and the minimum recommended by WHO was 100 litres per day. The prices charged for water did not match reality. Was the State party planning to take measures to rehabilitate water supplies and infrastructure for the Palestinian population? Given the key nature of water for life would the State party eliminate inequalities to access to water between the Jewish and Arab populations? There was a violation of the right to water and deliberate discrimination. Response from the Delegation Israel followed the rules of the International Labour Organization on unemployed persons, including the criteria that involved an unemployed person registering and actively looking for work, and also included persons unable to work due to sickness or reserve service. Unemployment rates separated into Arab and Jewish data from 2001 to 2009 showed that Jewish men’s unemployment peaked during the 2003 recession and fell to 7.9 per cent in 2009. Jewish women had slightly higher unemployment but it was now around the same level as Jewish men. Arab women’s unemployment reached a high of 16.9 per cent in 2006, although it had fallen since then and new research showed Arab women had strongly increased their labour force participation. In 2009 Arab men earned 56 per cent of Jewish men’s wages. The wages of Jewish women had increased to 60.2 per cent of Jewish men’s. Arab women earned approximately 67 per cent of Arab men’s average wage, although since 2001 their employment ratio had increased by 65 per cent, a tremendous figure. A delegate noted that the fact that the Arab population in Israel was younger and had a higher birth rate than the Jewish population made a difference to the statistics on household poverty. Social expenditure had been reduced from 18 per cent to 15.6 per cent in 2010, mainly due to cuts in social expenditure for working age people, although not for older persons. That was a major policy for all inhabitants of Israel, not just Jews or Arabs. The 1998 Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities law guaranteed the rights of persons with disabilities to be active in public life, prohibited negative discrimination and focused on addressing the special needs of that population. It was worth noting that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour may grant a person with disabilities the ability to work for lower than the minimum wage, which may sound strange but actually encouraged employers to hire a person with disabilities, as many were not as productive as a person without a disability. An amendment to the Disabilities law made it illegal for any new building to be inaccessible to persons with disabilities. In 2003 the Civil Service commissioner granted priority employment to job candidates with serious disabilities. A Government programme to help the disabled into supportive employment taught soft skill topics such as interview skills; and advised employers on appropriate salary and reasonable changes for work environment, such as wheelchair ramps or desk adjustments. The programme was especially aimed at adolescents with disabilities, and included work experience programmes (in public and private sectors and the army), career planning, preparation for independent life, special training and youth clubs. The Government had targets to raise the employment levels of minority groups, namely Arab, Jews, Circassian and Bedouins. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour ran a variety of programmes to meet those targets, which included programmes for the Druze and Bedouin populations in the north of Israel and the Negev. Employment centres staffed by local persons provided advice and extended services for targeted population groups such as women, youth, persons over 45, academics, persons with disabilities and so on. There were already centres for Arab populations in Tira and Bedouin populations in Negev, but more centres were due to open in 2012, including for Jewish and Bedouin populations in the north of Israel. Industrial zones in minority localities in Israel had received investment, with 270 million shekels budgeted for development over the next five years and there had been capital and private investment grants for minority-owned businesses. Vouchers for vocational training had been issued to minority persons. A wide consultation on employment measures was taking place, particularly with minority communities, and Israel took that very much to heart. Persons from Arab, Druze and Circassion populations made up 7.52 per cent of the civil service in 2010, which although low, represented a small rise. Measures taken to encourage members of the Arab population to join the civil service included adjustment of the entry examinations for the civil service, and emphasis on recruitment of Arab women academics and on recruiting members of the Arab population into more senior levels, and using them as a driving force for further recruitment. There were currently 32,000 licensed Palestinians employed in Israel, an additional 25,000 worked in the West Bank settlements, and approximately 20,000 Palestinians worked illegally in Israel. A delegate said he would not reiterate Israel’s position on the inapplicability of the Covenant to the occupied Palestinian territories, but spoke about the impact of the security fence on Palestinian farmers to work on their land. To put things into context the security fence involved a relatively small number of Palestinians – 7,000 people. The security fence was constructed following a drastic decline in the security situation at the beginning of the past decade. It was a temporary measure and not intended to annex territory. It had been constructed to balance security needs and its impact on the rights of all Palestinians living in the West Bank, especially those residing near the fence, in the ‘seam zone’. Palestinians living in the seam zone posed a significant security threat, but the fence affected those people most of all. Therefore Palestinians were encouraged not to live in the seam area, and for those who did, there was an extensive array of gates and passageways (some of which were permanent and some seasonal), and seam zone permits, all directed to meet the needs of the Palestinian people. The Supreme Court exercised continual judicial review on the security fence, often dealing with specific segments of a few metres. The seam zone was an issue and the Government continually sought to resolve the problems. The freedom of movement, like any other right, was not absolute and must be weighed against other rights that may conflict with it. The majority of roads in the West Bank allowed Palestinians to move without permits. Permits were only needed where there was a clear security issue. Route 443, which linked several West Bank villages to Ramallah, was opened to Palestinians following a Supreme Court ruling that freedom of movement was a right in May 2010. The 60 remaining checkpoints were manned, operated 24 hours per day, and did carry out random checks. There was no indication that restrictions on freedom of movement impacted on Palestinians’ employment ability. A wide and diverse range of national civil service options were available to men and women in Israel. Israel believed it was crucial to have an alternative to military service for all youth of Israel, from all ethnicities including youth who wanted to contribute to Israel but not through the military. A person could request their own location to perform national civil service, which was usually granted. Questions from the Experts An Expert asked about the rights of domestic workers in Israel, and a ruling that women who worked as homecare workers were not subject to the rights of work and rest, which really did infringe on the essential rights of women domestic workers. There was a high suicide rate among divorced men in Israel, amounting to half of all suicides. It was reportedly because family rights for divorced couples were very biased towards mothers and restricted access of men to children and the family home to a degree rarely seen in any other State. The situation for divorced fathers was apparently hellish. Was it true that divorced fathers were not allowed to leave Israel until they had paid approximately 20 years of alimony? Was it true that 30,000 children could not leave Israel because of draconian court rulings? There was little possibility for such men to get redress, and appeal was extremely expensive. What steps was the State party taking to change that practice? Was the Israeli approach to family matters – divorce, custody - secular or sectarian? An Expert said that the entire closure of Gaza for over 1,000 terrorist attacks clearly represented a collective punishment of Palestinian people and clearly violated the Covenant, customary international law and international humanitarian law. It represented a totally disproportionate security response. Building a wall that cut across Palestinian agricultural land, which made ploughing and harvesting activities impossible, was a clear violation of the right to attain an adequate standard of living as well as the right to food. Israel had ultimate control over the occupied Palestinian territories. Last week the Israeli authorities at last allowed some construction materials to be delivered to six construction firms in Gaza – was there an intention to open the borders further? On the right to health, there were numerous restrictions on Palestinians accessing their only available health services, mainly by checkpoints for ambulances. Even in emergency situations, such as cardiovascular or pregnancy emergencies, long waiting time at checkpoints had resulted in deaths of patients. From 2010 to 2011, 1,089 emergency ambulance services of the Palestinian Red Crescent were denied direct entry to hospitals despite prior contact with the hospitals and authorities. Severely ill patients had to be carried from the ambulances to other forms of transport, all because of apparent security concerns. Did Israel intend to improve this situation? About 86 per cent of the West Bank communities had poor connection to water and sanitation. Palestinian attempts to build water and waste water treatment plants had been prevented. Security forces and settlers had wilfully destroyed rain-water collection units, including roof water, often in the name of security. Water was extremely scarce in the West Bank and Gaza. What steps were being taken to criminalize perpetrators from security forces and settlers and to provide remedies against those abuses? If Gaza could not import construction material how could they improve their standard of living? They had no access to water. They had only one waste disposal plant. Their fishing rights had been massively reduced. Where was Israel’s commitment to protect the standard of living of those people? Israel must reconsider its stance. What measures were being taken to eliminate the unfortunate practice of underage child marriages, sometimes based on religious grounds? What was the State position on polygamy, another practice which happened in Israel? Approximately 25 per cent of families in Israel were living below the poverty line. That was a very high percentage for a highly developed economy which recently joined the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. That figure was confirmed by other data, for instance the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 57 per cent of all Palestinians were living in poverty, and half of households depended on food aid. What was the Israeli Government doing to combat poverty, both in Israel and to enable the fighting of poverty in the occupied Palestinian territories? The West Bank situation had to be seen in perspective and should not be belittled. It was a fact of life that the construction of the wall by Israel had resulted in the destruction of large areas of farmland, olive gardens, split villages into two and in general infringed on the economic and social rights contained in the Covenant. The Gaza Strip was under siege: the fishing zone extended to three nautical miles only, when nautical law stipulated fishing zones of 12 miles, with a further 200 mile economic zone: 4,000 fishermen were directly impeded in their economic and social rights, with enormous consequences for thousands of persons. The law on citizenship severely restricted family unification possibilities when one spouse was resident in the West Bank, and therefore majorly affected the rights of the family. Was there any specific provision criminalizing domestic violence? What nationwide campaigns were there to eradicate sexual harassment? There was a new law criminalizing trafficking in persons; many migrant women and children migrants and asylum seekers were victims of trafficking, generally for the purpose of prostitution. What measures was the Government taking to prevent trafficking in persons, and what sentences had been imposed on perpetrators? Sex tourism was present in Israel, particularly extremely damaging practices involving minors and pornography. Would the State party criminalize Israeli citizens committing those elicit crimes, particularly with foreign minors? Could the delegation give an update on the right to sexual and reproductive health, sex education, and particularly the rights of young persons in relation to maternity? Israel was known to have one of the highest rates of taxation in the world. Would the Government consider using taxation as a way of redistributing national income, an approach seen in other countries? In relation to the Absentees Property Law, could displaced people freely return to their settlements and property? Could the Israeli authorities subsequently sell or hand over property to private individuals? Did displaced persons have the right to due process? The Committee Chairperson requested a clarification from the delegation about forced evictions, particularly allegations of forced evictions in East Jerusalem. Response from the Delegation Regarding the rights of foreign domestic workers, the employment was a unique and specific type, they were jobs of confidence, and therefore the Government decided that laws on working hours and the Labour Code should not apply to those persons. Over 16 years ago responsibility for food and nutrition in the territories was transferred to the Palestinian National Council. Israel allowed the transfer of all essential provisions to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel had no power or authority to construct new healthcare infrastructure in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, for instance it could not mandate Palestinians to have vaccinations, and had no responsibility for their right to health. Israel had practical responsibility for the right to movement of Palestinians due to checkpoints, and great efforts had been taken to ensure no Palestinian was hampered on the way to seek healthcare. The last time a Palestinian was delayed on their route to seek medical treatment was in 2007. Since then procedures had been created to avoid that happening again. The manager of checkpoints had the discretion to decide whether the severity of a Palestinian merited them entering Israel for medical treatment. Thousands of Palestinian patients from the West Bank were treated in Israel every year: in July 2011, for instance, over 11,000 Palestinians benefitted from medical treatment in Israel. The organization Hamas was the greatest obstacle to Palestinians’ access to medical treatment. Palestinians had responsibility for and exclusive control of management and maintenance of water and sewage systems. Israel had met all of its responsibilities under its Water Agreement with the Palestinians, and even exceeded its requirements. In no case did Israel transfer water from the West Bank into the area inside the 1949 armistice land. Palestinians had failed to treat the sewage gathering around the natural aquifer in the West Bank, which was seeping into Israel, and were drilling unauthorized wells which may lead to an ecological disaster. Things were even more severe in the Gaza Strip: 6,000 unauthorized wells were drilled immediately following Israel’s withdrawal in 2005, all examples of how Israel did not have control over water resources in the occupied Palestinian territories. Palestinians were responsible for treating their own sewage, and no progress had been made. As a consequence Israel had been compelled to treat the waste itself, and over 85 per cent of waste water from the West Bank was now being treated by Israel. It was inaccurate to say there was only one waste water treatment plant in Gaza – there were currently three. That related to the issue of the blockage as Israel has allowed the passage of construction materials for internationally-led projects, such as those relating to waste water treatment. The Hamas Government did not miss the opportunity to damage its own waste water treatment plants for the purpose of delaying the movement of Israeli armed forces. Whether construction in the West Bank was done for the security fence or other needs, the requisitioning of land was always subject to a payment of usage to the owner. The enforcement of zoning laws was done under the military commander’s responsibility to maintain public order. The normative basis for that action was a Judean Law which pre-existed Israeli presence in the West Bank. The process for what was referred to by the Committee as ‘forced evictions’, when illegal construction was located, allowed the property owner to make a claim, orally or in writing, to the zoning committee. Concerning fishing, the delegation was not familiar with the Law of Sea providing for 12 nautical miles, and said it was usually three nautical miles. In any case the fishing zone had been established at three miles and that was Israel’s position on the matter. Millions of dollars of food aid and humanitarian goods flowed into Gaza every day from non-governmental organizations in Israel, ensuring no person starved in Gaza. School equipment, including text books and laptops were also sent. Since June 2011 there had been an 87 per cent increase in the quantity of goods going into Gaza. Israel’s policy to improve life in Gaza had enabled economic and social improvements in the lives of people there. Unemployment in Gaza had dropped from 40 per cent to 25.6 per cent, according to ILO figures, the lowest rate seen in Gaza in the past decade. More people were exiting from Gaza, and 100 permits were approved per day. It was no secret that poverty in Israel was a serious problem and relatively high compared to OECD countries. The Government was worried about it and took the issue very seriously. There had been a pilot scheme of a ‘negative income tax’, a wage subsidy paid to the employee rather than the employer, which the Government voted would be increased and implemented countrywide. The top tax rate had been increased to 50 per cent, although Israel was no longer the country with the highest tax rates. A plan to reduce the taxes of rich people had been stopped, and that money would instead be transferred to social benefits. Following the economic crisis, which reached a height in 2009, poverty levels had been slowly decreasing, the economy was growing, employment had gone up three per cent, and the poverty ratio of families saw a small decline from 20.5 to 19.8 per cent, figures which encompassed the poorest families, who were the large ones mostly in Arab and orthodox Jewish sectors. Land supply had to be increased to build more housing, and the sale of public housing would be stopped, so that housing could be rented by those in need. Most reforms were a result of the Trachtenberg Committee’s recommendations. The committee on housing construction for the Arab population until 2020 had approved some 82,000 houses in eastern neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. Sex education was provided throughout school from grade one to 12. The subject was called ‘life skills’ in secular schools, and ‘family matters’ in Jewish religious schools. In Arab schools the programme was taught by the psychological unit, and among the Bedouin population the subject was taught in gendered classes by school advisors. Israel supported the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Palestinian Red Cross in 2005, and was assisting implementation of the agreement. The International Committee of the Red Cross report indicated that their five ambulances were able to serve the residents of East Jerusalem and that they had access to all hospitals in the city. In the last year and a half, only five structures were demolished in east Jerusalem, which were isolated structures, not buildings, which were disrupting order. In fact more demolition had taken place in west Jerusalem. The municipality did not execute demolition orders against educational facilities or mosques. The Ministry of Interior had taken great strides to promote plans for the Arab population, and give them a say in planning schemes, through open community workshops. The Ministry focused on the input of women in Arab societies by engaging them in clinics and places where they were more present. Two members of the Goldberg Committee were members of the Bedouin community. A delegate confirmed that Israel did not believe that Bedouins were indigenous people. Palestinians from the West Bank, who carried Israeli identification cards, had been increasingly associated with terrorist organizations. In order to prevent the danger posed by those individuals the Government temporarily suspended granting them legal status in Israel. Following that Governmental decision there were a series of terrorist attacks. However persons were still allowed into Israel on temporary grounds, such as for healthcare, reunification of those who were married to an Israeli spouse or for children under the age of 14. Children over 14 could be granted temporary permits. Every case was examined by a committee on its own merits. In 2006 the Supreme Court recognized civil marriage, following two test cases. The Supreme Court held that a civil wedding certificate from a foreign country in which same sex marriages were recognized allowed a couple to officially register as married in Israel. Persons who had no religious affiliation could register a spousal covenant, a couple who lived together, and would receive a certificate, although not a marriage certificate. The issue of divorce was emotional and complex, and was decided by courts such as the Family Matters Court that ruled on custody and property rights. Over 12,000 couples divorced annually in Israel, and most reached custody agreements without judicial intervention. Over the past decade, court decisions on contact between parents and children following divorce had changed; last year 738 rulings on mutual custody were passed down, and children were encouraged to spend more time with their non-custodial parent. Children under the age of six would live with their mother unless it was in the best interest of the child not to. Regarding visitation rights, if a woman had information there might be a problem receiving child maintenance for her children, she could ask a court to grant a delay on the father of her children leaving the country. Once the problem was solved the delay would be lifted. Men’s organizations took part in important committee debates about the role of post-divorce fathers, including legal aspects of father’s responsibilities. Regarding the claim that 2,000 divorced fathers committed suicide annually, the Ministry of Health’s statistics were that there were 400 suicides last year, and 150 of those were divorced men. A delegate noted that the former President of Israel was recently sentenced to seven years in prison for serious sexual crimes. In 2008 there were over 12,000 investigations into domestic violence, which were handled with great care. The police had been trained in investigating complaints and now took such cases very seriously. The issues of sexual harassment, domestic and sexual violence were taken extremely seriously in Israel, and measures taken included work with employers, awareness-raising campaigns and a major conference on sexual harassment in the private sector. There were specific sexual violence centres geared towards the Arab and Bedouin populations, and also shelters for victims of domestic violence. A person who married a boy or girl, conducted a marriage ceremony or in any way enabled such a marriage could be punished with two years imprisonment. Rare exceptions were if a girl under the age of 17 gave birth to a baby fathered by a man she wanted to marry. Every case was decided upon by the Family Court on its own merit. The issue of sex tourism had been raised by the Committee, and contrary to the Expert’s statement, there was no phenomenon of sex tourism in Israel. Allegations of sex tourism in Eilat, southern Israel, were found to be very rare. Israel regarded the use of children for sex tourism, and trafficking in persons, very seriously. Since 2000 there had been one case of a trafficking victim who was under 18. Trafficking offences had featured in Israeli law since 2001, and a specific anti-trafficking law came into force in 2006 which carried heavy penalties, ranging from 18 to 30 years imprisonment. Around 2005 there had been estimates of 3,000 trafficking victims in Israel, but in the last three years there were no cases. That was due to very strong law enforcement from the police, State Attorney’s office and other agencies. In the last two years there were cases of migrant women trafficking victims arriving over the Sinai desert. They were not Israeli women, but foreign nationals, mostly of African origin, on their way to Israel. The perpetrators were mostly Egyptian. There had been harrowing stories of what had happened to those women, but the Government provided specialist help and shelters for the victims, and had so far prosecuted three perpetrators. Follow-Up Questions from Experts An Expert said that the fishing crisis had not been properly addressed, and giving three kilometres to Palestinians was outrageous. To avoid confusion an Expert clarified that nautical law was subject to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provided that territorial sea breadth was 12 nautical miles, with a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. An Expert asked about Israel’s long-term plans for the occupied Palestinian territories. Response from the Delegation Israel’s long term plan was to make peace with its Palestinian neighbours, and to do that it wanted to negotiate with them on a range of issues, including settling borders and territory issues, which would hopefully resolve the regional conflict. Questions from Experts The access of Palestinian children to education was impaired by Israeli actions. Arab Israelis had poor access to education, not least because there was no Arabic university in Israel. Ministry of Education figures showed that in 2008, 31.4 per cent of Arab children succeeded in school exams compared to 59 per cent of Jewish children. Around 40,000 Arab Israelis had no access to secondary schools and very few primary schools. The Israeli Government was responsible for the Arab educational system but treated it unequally to the education system for Israeli Jews. An Expert commended Israel for its inclusion of human rights on school curriculum. He then raised the school drop-out rate, which was more than double for Arab pupils (12.5 per cent) than for Jewish pupils (5.4 per cent). The Government said that was because Arab pupils left school to work for their families, because their families were more impoverished than Jewish families. Could the delegation explain the disparity? Did Israel plan an integrated school system, to end the segregation of Arab and Jewish students, perhaps as an instrument of reconciliation? An Expert said he noted Israel’s affirmation that they did not consider the Bedouins to be an indigenous group, but did not agree, especially given the right to self-identification. Response from the Delegation A delegate said that Israel had transferred powers over education to the Palestinian authorities over 16 years ago, so what did the Committee want them to do? There were a range of education programmes as part of Israel’s humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, especially in Gaza. Universities and colleges throughout Israel were open to every member of the population, regardless of ethnicity or religion. There were at least two Arabic colleges, and most universities ran courses in the Arabic language. An Arabic language academy was established in 2007. There were schools attended by both Arabic and Jewish students, and of course Arabic was a mandatory subject in all schools. Many Israeli children felt the need to learn Arabic, by way of connecting with all aspects of cultural life in Israel. The gaps between the highest and lowest grades in Israel were among the highest in the world, but the gap in school attainments was being narrowed, and the Government was particularly focused on investing in improving Arab students’ attainments. The increased resources included preferential budgeting for the Arab population, as well as recruitment of Arab teachers and Bedouin teachers, and providing training for them. Regarding drop-out figures, a delegate said that an essential value of Israel was to keep all children in an educational framework for as long as possible, at any cost. The drop-out rate had declined over the past two years, partly due to the new Compulsory Education Law for grade 11 and 12, programmes to reduce drop-out across the board via temporary support and due to the construction of schools in Bedouin communities. Follow-Up Questions from Experts An Expert noted that every question the Committee raised about the occupied Palestinian territories had been responded to by a delegate from the Ministry of Defence, which did not bode well. Response from Delegation A delegate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he hoped their responses had been seen to be respectful, and even if views differed they came from a point of respect of human rights. As a democracy that was the only Jewish state in the whole world Israelis had an acute awareness that Jews were not the only citizens in the State. Concluding Remarks ARTHUR LENK, Director, Department of International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thanked the Committee for the very informative exchange, and said while there were disagreements Israel was no different from the vast majority of countries the Committee faced. Israel very much respected the Committee’s point of views, and would take the views and opinions home, and factor them into all three branches of Government. ARIRANGA GOVINDASAMY PILLAY, Committee Chairperson, maintained the Committee’s position that the State party of Israel was under a legal obligation to report on the situation of the occupied territories of Palestine. He noted that many of the concerns in the concluding observations of 2003 were still outstanding today. In order to improve its obligations under the Covenant, Israel must take into account the Committee’s recommendations and act upon them.