<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container content-width3" style="--font-size:20px;">
<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://qudsnen.co/human-rights-groups-urge-protection-of-palestinian-workers-during-covid-19-pandemic/">https://qudsnen.co/human-rights-groups-urge-protection-of-palestinian-workers-during-covid-19-pandemic/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Human rights groups urge protection of
Palestinian workers during COVID-19 pandemic<br>
</h1>
<div class="meta-data">
<div class="reader-estimated-time">May 1, 2020<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content line-height4 reader-show-element">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div>
<p>Ramallah (QNN) – The Palestinian Human Rights
Organizations Council and the Palestinian
Non-Governmental Organizations Network sent today a
joint open letter to the International Labour
Organization (ILO) on the occasion of International
Workers’ Day, urging the latter to take action to
protect the rights, livelihoods, and dignity of
Palestinian workers during and after the COVID-19
pandemic. </p>
<p>Following is the full text of the letter:</p>
<p><em>We, the undersigned civil society organisations,
trade unions, and individuals around the world,
address this joint open letter to the International
Labour Organization (ILO) on the occasion of
International Workers’ Day, urging you to take action
in the framework of your mandate to protect the
rights, livelihoods, and dignity of Palestinian
workers, women and men, and their families during and
after the COVID-19 pandemic. The ILO Centenary
Declaration for the Future of Work has confirmed the
essential role that ILO, one hundred years since its
creation, must play for the achievement of ‘social
justice, democracy and the promotion of universal and
lasting peace.’[i]</em></p>
<p><em>
</em></p>
<p><em>We welcome the ILO’s recent statement calling on
governments around the world to take action to prevent
and control the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
As stressed by the ILO, ‘It is only by implementing
occupational safety and health measures that we can
protect the lives of workers, their families and the
larger communities, ensure work continuity and
economic survival.’[ii] We also welcome the ILO’s
Palestinian Decent Work Programme, as a serious effort
to enhance employment and livelihood opportunities and
realise fundamental principles and rights at work for
Palestinian women and men.[iii]</em></p>
<em>
<p>Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has
exacerbated vulnerabilities linked to poverty,
discrimination, conflict and occupation. In Palestine,
the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront
Israel’s regime of institutionalised racial domination
and oppression over the Palestinian people as a whole,
which amounts to the crime of apartheid.[iv] As
highlighted in your latest 2019 report on the
situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories,
‘the Palestinians themselves have little scope to
improve their destiny. The Israeli occupation is
stifling in every respect, dominating almost every
aspect of Palestinian life.’[v] Throughout the
occupied Palestinian territory, the Israeli occupying
authorities have continued to indiscriminately target
Palestinians’ livelihoods during the COVID-19
pandemic, including through attacks on farmers,
shepherds, and fishermen in the Gaza Strip.[vi]</p>
<p>During COVID-19, the susceptibility of Palestinian
workers to the pandemic has been compounded, with the
Israeli occupying authorities continuing to prioritize
economic considerations over the inherent rights and
dignity of Palestinian workers. With the start of the
outbreak, the Israeli occupying authorities allowed
approximately 60,000 Palestinian workers employed in
Israel to temporarily reside in Israel for a maximum
period of two months during the emergency situation,
with Israeli employers mandated to ensure adequate
housing, proper sanitation, and food for workers.[vii]
Yet, workers have faced dire housing conditions,
forced to sleep at construction sites or in
greenhouses,[viii] while Palestinian workers
displaying symptoms of the flu have been thrown at
checkpoints without coordination to ensure they would
receive treatment.[ix] At the same time, Israel has
refused to test Palestinian workers for COVID-19,
thereby failing to take adequate measures to curb the
spread of the pandemic in the occupied Palestinian
territory and undermined containment and mitigation
efforts by the Palestinian Authority for returning
workers. The Palestinian Health Ministry has found
that workers, their families, and their contacts make
up a majority of COVID-19 infections in the West
Bank.[x]</p>
<p>“As we commemorate International Workers’ Day and the
achievements in advancing labour rights across the
globe, Palestinian workers employed in Israel and in
illegal Israeli settlements continue to endure dire
working conditions, receive lower wages than their
Israeli counterparts, and are denied access to
healthcare and other benefits, amongst other
discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli
occupation.[xi] In particular, the Israeli
construction sector, which is dominated by Palestinian
workers from both sides of the Green Line and which
has continued as an ‘essential service’ during
COVID-19, is considered to be one of the most
dangerous sectors for work-related accidents, as it
lacks the necessary supervision by the Israeli
government, whose responsibility it is to ensure that
employers uphold Palestinian workers’ rights.</p>
<p>“As highlighted by the ILO, COVID-19 has exposed the
fragility of economies across the globe, with the
pandemic having the potential ‘in the longer-term [to]
dramatically amplify cycles of poverty and
inequality.’[xiii] It is therefore more urgent than
ever to address the prolonged denial of the individual
and collective rights of the Palestinian people as the
root cause depriving Palestinians of an adequate
standard of living, including the right to work.
Notably, United Nations Special Rapporteurs have
recalled Israel’s legal duty to ensure that
Palestinians receive essential health services,[xiv]
expressed concerns over Israel impeding efforts to
effectively control and mitigate the impacts of
COVID-19, and called for equal access to treatment and
testing without discrimination.</p>
<p>Accordingly, we the undersigned civil society
organisations, trade unions, and individuals call on
you today, as Director-General of the ILO, to: </p>
<p>Send an urgent letter to the Minister of Labour and
Minister of Health in Israel, calling on the Israeli
occupying authorities to urgently provide Palestinian
workers with their three months’ wages during the
emergency period, as per Israeli labour law; to take
all necessary measures, including with employers, to
guarantee healthcare coverage for Palestinian workers
during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic;
to provide Palestinian workers staying in Israel with
adequate housing, food, water, and sanitation, as
essential to upholding their rights and mitigating the
effects of COVID-19 amongst workers and their families
upon return; and<br>
Invite the 109th session of the International Labour
Conference to hold Israel, the occupying power,
accountable for its violation of Palestinian workers’
rights through the adequate supervision of the
Committee of Experts to implement the recommendations
of the report on the situation of workers of the
occupied Arab territories and for the enforcement of
the conventions it has ratified.<br>
Yours sincerely,</p>
<p><strong>Coalitions</strong></p>
<p>The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council
(PHROC), comprising:</p>
<p>Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights
Association<br>
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights<br>
Al-Haq – Law in the Service of Mankind<br>
Aldameer Association for Human Rights<br>
Defense for Children International (DCI) – Palestine<br>
Hurryyat – Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil
Rights<br>
Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)<br>
Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights –
Observer Member<br>
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)<br>
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)<br>
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (Ombudsman
Office) – Observer Member<br>
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network
(PNGO), comprising:</p>
<p>Agricultural Development Association (PARC)<br>
Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society<br>
Arab Center for Agricultural Development<br>
Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center (DWRC)<br>
Early Childhood Resource Center (ECRC)<br>
Health Work Committees (HWC)<br>
Human Rights and Democracy Media Center – SHAMS<br>
Land Research Center (LRC)<br>
Ma’an Development Center<br>
Musawa – The Palestinian Center for the Independence
of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession<br>
Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict
Resolution (PCDCR)<br>
Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD)<br>
Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association<br>
Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)<br>
Palestinian Women’s Development Society (PWDS)<br>
Palestinian Working Women Society for Development
(PWWSD)<br>
Psycho-Social Counselling Center for Women (PSCCW)<br>
Sareyyet Ramallah<br>
Tamer Institute for Community Education<br>
Teacher Creativity Center<br>
The Palestinian Businesswomen’s Association – ASALA<br>
Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)<br>
Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC)<br>
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC)<br>
Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)<br>
Women’s Studies Centre<br>
Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) – Palestine<br>
Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) – Ramallah<br>
Organisations </p>
</em>
<p><em>Asociación Alnakba, Venezuela<br>
Asociación Árabe Guatemalteca<br>
Asociación Comunidad Palestina, Guatemala<br>
Asociación Salvadoreña Palestina<br>
Association Belgo-Palestinienne (ABP)<br>
Association France-Palestine Solidarité (AFPS)<br>
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)<br>
Cine Fértil, Argentina<br>
Comunidad Colombo Palestina<br>
Comunidad Palestina de Chile<br>
Fundación Cultural Colombo Palestina<br>
Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land
Rights Network<br>
Instituto Brasil Palestina (IBRASPAL)<br>
Juventud Chileno-Árabe por Palestina de Valdivia<br>
Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les
Peuples (MRAP)<br>
Mouvement International de la Réconciliation (MIR)<br>
Organización Solidaria con Palestina (OSP-Chile)<br>
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine<br>
The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD)<br>
The Palestinian National Institute for NGOs (PNIN)<br>
Unión Árabe de Cuba<br>
Unión General de Estudiantes Palestinos (UGEP-Chile)<br>
Unión Palestina de América Latina (UPAL)<br>
Youth Development Association (YDA)</em></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a></div>
</body>
</html>