In recent years, ACRI has considerably expanded our work in the international arena. We view international advocacy as an essential channel through which to advance key human rights concerns in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Complementing our work inside Israel, ACRI undertakes a broad range of activities in the international arena, including: submitting shadow reports and providing information to UN committees and representatives concerning Israel’s compliance with its human rights obligations; meeting with foreign diplomats and government representatives; participating in international conferences and NGO networks; and raising awareness of human rights issues by generating ongoing international media coverage. Through such activities, ACRI acts as an important conduit of accurate and reliable information concerning the human rights situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
In 2008, along with the United Nations and NGOs around the world, ACRI will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as part of our annual Human Rights Week activities in December. Please visit ACRI’s Web site in the coming months for more information about the range of educational and public events we are planning throughout Israel to mark this important milestone.
libby@acri.org.il.
Recent international advocacy activities include:
United Nations Advocacy
UN International Meeting on the Question of Palestine: Advancing the Peace Process – Challenges Facing the Parties
The conference, which took place in Malta on June 3-4, 2008, aimed to foster greater support by the international community for the creation of a climate conducive to the advancement of final status negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. ACRI Attorney Nasrat Dakwar was chosen to speak about the human rights violations caused by the Separation Barrier in the West Bank.
UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
CERD is the UN body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention against racial discrimination by State parties. In February 2007, Israel appeared before the Committee for the first time in nine years, and provided information about its efforts to combat discrimination.
In February 2007, ACRI sent two representatives to participate in Israel’s session before the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva, to follow-up on our submission of a Shadow Report to the Committee in January 2006. ACRI also submitted additional information to the Committee in February 2007. In March 2007, the Committee issued its Concluding Observations, many of which relate to issues that were raised by ACRI in the written and oral information we provided to the Committee.
In July 2008, CERD published a report on Israel’s implementation of its conclusions, citing many of the issues ACRI raised in its report as well as our activities. The full report is available on ACRI’s web site.
Foreign Governments
ACRI meets regularly with representatives of foreign embassies and consulates, to brief them about key human rights issues that we are addressing so that they can raise these issues in their reports to their respective foreign ministries.
Each year, ACRI provides extensive information to the US embassy and consulate to assist them in their preparation of the US State Department’s Human Rights Report on Israel and the OPT. Nine issues addressed by ACRI are cited in the Written information submitted by ACRI to the U.S. Embassy concerning the issue of stateless persons in Israel, September 2007
International NGOs and Conferences
International Conference on Counterrorism and Human Rights, Yale University, April 2008
ACRI Attorney Lila Margalit was invited to address the conference of eminent human rights activists on Israel’s counterrorism policies. Delegates from around the world discussed progressive responses to post 9/11 counterterrorism policies during the two-day forum. The conference was sponsored by the National Litigation Project of Yale’s International Human Rights Clinic.
International Commission of Jurists’ Eminent Jurists Panel, August 2007
ACRI was selected to serve as the Israeli facilitating organization for the International Commission of Jurists’ (ICJ) Eminent Jurists Panel’s hearing in Israel in August 2007. The Panel comprises eight highly respected jurists established by the ICJ in October 2005 to conduct a global inquiry into counter-terrorism and human rights. ACRI organized the Panel’s itinerary in Israel, and helped set up meetings with state representatives, academics, human rights lawyers, judges, and civil society organizations. At an NGO briefing organized by ACRI, Attorney Sharon Abraham-Weiss presented information about the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law and the human rights violations that it entails.
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) Conference on Migrant Workers, April 2007
In April 2007, Attorney Oded Feller, ACRI’s lawyer specializing in citizenship and status issues, was invited to speak as an expert on migrant workers at the annual conference of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr. Feller served on a panel, entitled “Workshop on Migration in North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, and the Gulf.” He gave participants an overview of problems of immigration and migrant workers in Israel.
