dilloduck
Diamond Member
Human Rights Infringements in 2002 Hit Hardest the Weakest Sectors
http://www.acri.org.il/english-acri/engine/story.asp?id=55
This is the most salient trend that emerges from ACRIs Annual Report on the State of Human Rights in Israel, that was presented on 16.7.02
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel presented on 16.7.02 its annual report, detailing the state of human rights in Israel over the past year. The most salient trend that emerges from the report is the policy-makers decision to restrict both civil and economic rights, especially for the weakest sectors of the population. The report was written by Naama Yashuvi, Director of the Information Center at ACRI.
Alongside the denouncement of the severe human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, the report emphasizes the serious infringement of the rights of the weakest sectors of the population: new immigrants, the elderly, the physically impaired, the unemployed, the Arab sector, prisoners and detainees, foreign workers, and children. For example, the current government has approved discriminatory legislation that was previously rescinded in the 1990s, cutting child allowances by 20% to parents who havent served in the defense services or in national service. This impacts hardest upon the new immigrant, physically impaired, and Arab sectors. Similarly, there has been an increasing trend making it more and more difficult to qualify for unemployment imbursements.
Whereas, in previous years, ACRI has pointed to the disturbing correlation between an individuals financial means and his access to health care, this year the report highlights the increasing correlation between economic means and access to the judicial system. The report details various examples of this phenomenon, including the reduction in the right to Legal Aid for civil matters and the reduced right to representation by the Public Defender in criminal matters. This reduced representation has led to the situation where an individual can lose his liberty (forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution, or forcibly detained by the Contractual Execution Office, or arrested in a petty criminal matter) and still fall through the cracks, lacking sufficient means to hire his own attorney and yet ineligible for state-sponsored representation. In addition, the report details the cancellation of state-sponsored translation services in the civil courts, and the sharp increase in the costs of petitioning the courts ever since jurisdiction over certain matters was transferred from the Supreme Court to the Court of Administrative Matters earlier this year.
Discrimination against the Arab population grew worse in the past year. Official government plans to reduce the service gap between Jewish and Arab communities have not been implemented, and budgeting towards the Arab community, which was supposed to have increased under government plans, was actually decreased. The governments plans to cut child allowances would adversely affect more Arab citizens than any other population in Israel, and other government policies and budget cuts (detailed in the report) tended to hurt a disproportionate number of Arab citizens.
Also covered in the report are the restrictions that the government (specifically the Ministry of the Interior) has placed on applications for citizenship submitted by foreigners who marry Israeli spouses. These restrictions infringe the right of families to live together, causing the separation of spouses from each other, and the separation of children from their parents. This policy reached its peak this year when Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai decided to freeze the processing of all citizenship applications submitted by spouses of Israeli Arabs. This decision, approved by the government, has officially established discrimination based on nationality, and it has sown the seeds of hatred, xenophobia, and racism. ACRI petitioned the Supreme Court against this decision. In an additional petition submitted in the name of four families, ACRI demanded that the state grant official legal status to foreigners who had children with their Israeli spouses and later divorced. The Ministry of the Interior sought the deportation of these non-citizen ex-spouses. ACRI also continues to work to prevent the passage of any legislation that would make it harder for foreigners who marry Israelis to obtain citizenship.
http://www.acri.org.il/english-acri/engine/story.asp?id=55
This is the most salient trend that emerges from ACRIs Annual Report on the State of Human Rights in Israel, that was presented on 16.7.02
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel presented on 16.7.02 its annual report, detailing the state of human rights in Israel over the past year. The most salient trend that emerges from the report is the policy-makers decision to restrict both civil and economic rights, especially for the weakest sectors of the population. The report was written by Naama Yashuvi, Director of the Information Center at ACRI.
Alongside the denouncement of the severe human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, the report emphasizes the serious infringement of the rights of the weakest sectors of the population: new immigrants, the elderly, the physically impaired, the unemployed, the Arab sector, prisoners and detainees, foreign workers, and children. For example, the current government has approved discriminatory legislation that was previously rescinded in the 1990s, cutting child allowances by 20% to parents who havent served in the defense services or in national service. This impacts hardest upon the new immigrant, physically impaired, and Arab sectors. Similarly, there has been an increasing trend making it more and more difficult to qualify for unemployment imbursements.
Whereas, in previous years, ACRI has pointed to the disturbing correlation between an individuals financial means and his access to health care, this year the report highlights the increasing correlation between economic means and access to the judicial system. The report details various examples of this phenomenon, including the reduction in the right to Legal Aid for civil matters and the reduced right to representation by the Public Defender in criminal matters. This reduced representation has led to the situation where an individual can lose his liberty (forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution, or forcibly detained by the Contractual Execution Office, or arrested in a petty criminal matter) and still fall through the cracks, lacking sufficient means to hire his own attorney and yet ineligible for state-sponsored representation. In addition, the report details the cancellation of state-sponsored translation services in the civil courts, and the sharp increase in the costs of petitioning the courts ever since jurisdiction over certain matters was transferred from the Supreme Court to the Court of Administrative Matters earlier this year.
Discrimination against the Arab population grew worse in the past year. Official government plans to reduce the service gap between Jewish and Arab communities have not been implemented, and budgeting towards the Arab community, which was supposed to have increased under government plans, was actually decreased. The governments plans to cut child allowances would adversely affect more Arab citizens than any other population in Israel, and other government policies and budget cuts (detailed in the report) tended to hurt a disproportionate number of Arab citizens.
Also covered in the report are the restrictions that the government (specifically the Ministry of the Interior) has placed on applications for citizenship submitted by foreigners who marry Israeli spouses. These restrictions infringe the right of families to live together, causing the separation of spouses from each other, and the separation of children from their parents. This policy reached its peak this year when Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai decided to freeze the processing of all citizenship applications submitted by spouses of Israeli Arabs. This decision, approved by the government, has officially established discrimination based on nationality, and it has sown the seeds of hatred, xenophobia, and racism. ACRI petitioned the Supreme Court against this decision. In an additional petition submitted in the name of four families, ACRI demanded that the state grant official legal status to foreigners who had children with their Israeli spouses and later divorced. The Ministry of the Interior sought the deportation of these non-citizen ex-spouses. ACRI also continues to work to prevent the passage of any legislation that would make it harder for foreigners who marry Israelis to obtain citizenship.