About ACRI’s Social and Economic Rights Department
ACRI’s Social and Economic Rights Department works to protect the social and economic rights of all residents of Israel and to promote these rights by operating through several parallel channels: public outreach, litigation and legal intervention, and policy advocacy. The department focuses on promoting human rights in health care, education, housing, and welfare, and seeks to ensure an equal realization of these rights to all residents, without discrimination. The department also deals with the ramifications of the privatization of social services in Israel, insofar as it infringes on human rights.
Education, health care, housing, and welfare are not another commodity, but rather rights to which we are all entitled. ACRI believes that not only are social and economic rights a key part of the human rights spectrum, but also that the complete enjoyment other human rights, such as civil and political rights, is dependent upon the full realization of social and economic rights. The social contract that is the foundation of every society requires the government to take responsibility and to provide social services and a social safety net for all, without discrimination on the basis of socio-economic divisions.
ACRI’s Social and Economic Rights Department has been successful in advancing new governmental policies that enable the public to realize its rights, in influencing public opinion, and in promoting the notion that social and economic rights are basic human rights. Through our intensive work in this field, ACRI has earned the reputation as a leading defender of social and economic rights in Israel.
Objectives of ACRI’s Social and Economic Rights Department
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) seeks to encourage government policy that promotes social justice and invests as many public resources as possible in providing adequate social services. Through collaboration with the authorities, other non-governmental organizations, and local activists, ACRI works to ensure government responsibility to decrease existing gaps in access to quality social services and for a more just distribution of public resources and services.
ACRI works to promote the social and economic rights of all residents of Israel as the universal rights of every human being, rich or poor, without discrimination. At the same time, ACRI also works to enhance the understanding – among policy makers, civil society activists, and the general public – that the unique needs of different groups must be addressed and that as a society, we must take action to advance socio-economically disadvantaged communities.
ACRI will strive to influence the authorities’ plans and actions in a way that will enhance the protection and the fulfillment of the social and economic rights of every person. ACRI is committed to a professional and impartial conduct, which maintains the dignity of every person working with us.
Further Background on Social and Economic Rights:
Resources on Social and Economic Rights
ACRI Shadow Report on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (October 2010)
Social and Economic Rights in Israel 2011 – Facts and Figures
