Professional Development Training
The Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality | Tuesday November 15, 2016 | Discussion
ACRI’s position: Since 2002, the portion of the State budget invested in professional development training in Israel has been dramatically cut. The supply of professional development opportunities is low as a result, compared to many OECD countries. Opportunities which do exist are of low quality and are not updated in accordance with technological advancements. In addition, the Ministry of Economy makes it harder for the students and the employers, by not integrating the various providers operating in the field, and via a tedious bureaucracy that prevents the full realization of the few development training opportunities that do exist. The implications of this policy are that hundreds of men and women are prevented from making a living and benefiting from employment opportunities. Some capable people do not work at all, while others are employed by contractors, or work for low salaries in jobs where they have no possibility for advancement.
Women in Israel still earn a third less than men on average. They are dismissed from the workforce at an earlier age than men, and find themselves facing more extreme circumstances of unemployment. The system of professional development training does little to narrow the gender gaps and actually continues to reinforce them. In 2014, only 42% of people taking full-day, subsidized professional development courses were women, while 55.7% of women were actually looking for work. Moreover, the rate of women studying various courses reflects a clear gender stratification: the rate of women in a caregiver course was 98%; hospitality course – 44.5%; computer course – 26%; electronics and electricity course – 21%, and a mechanics and metalwork course – only 2.6%. The number of women participating in professional courses should be raised, with emphasis on the participation of older women, combating the gender stratification and segregation, and taking active policy steps to integrate women into male-dominated professions.
Regulating Settlement of Bedouin Arab Citizens in the Negev – State Comptroller Report 66c
Knesset’s State Control Committee | Tuesday November 15, 2016
ACRI’s position (together with Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights): The State Comptroller Report points to a long series of obstacles that are precluding the arrangement of the settlement of Bedouin Arab citizens in the Negev, and to a profound, fundamental and protracted failure of the government authorities in their treatment of this population. While the State Comptroller report exposes many of the government’s failures, it appears also to be captive to the prevailing misconception that the solution to arranging the settlement of Bedouin in the Negev is dependent first and foremost on the promotion of a bill to regulate the settlement. The attempt to advance a bill of this kind has failed in the past. Forcing a solution on the Bedouin community without their consent cannot solve the issue of land ownership. Such a solution is based, among other things, on the misconception that the Bedouin have no property rights to the lands they have cultivated for dozens of years and which they have owned and inhabited for generations. It also requires the expulsion of the population and the transfer of the vast majority of their lands to the State.
There is a deep crisis of trust between the Bedouin Arab citizens of the Negev, who suffer from severe discrimination and have been bearing the burden for 68 years, and the State and its institutions. In order to reach an agreed-upon solution, the government must change its approach and adopt a solution rooted in human rights and recognition of the continued injustices the Bedouin population has experienced. The government should advance planning and development alongside recognition of the villages and regulate them, in a process that is distinct from the issue of ownership. Likewise, the authorities should act with transparency and by involving the public in solutions being offered, and make sure to avoid heavy-handed, unilateral legislatively based solutions that involve forced transfer of the population.
Education towards a shared society and preventing racism
Knesset’s State Control Committee | Monday, November 21, 2016 | Discussion
ACRI’s position: Racism is a growing phenomenon in Israeli society. Its manifestations are severe and harmful. The spread of racism not only undermines the dignity of many people from different ethnic groups, but also endangers the country’s democratic space. Even if it is not solely responsible for this matter, the education system plays a central role in the struggle against racism, and it must make this a priority. The Ministry of Education announced the inauguration of an important program to combat racism, but to this day it is unclear whether it will be implemented, what the budgets are and how they will be allocated.
ACRI calls on the Education Minister to start a comprehensive, systematic process towards promoting the value of a shared society, and its implementation through the budgeting of sufficient funds. Preparation of a wide-ranging, long-term action plan in accordance with the State Comptroller’s recommendations is a positive first step. However, without the proper allocation of budgets and human resources, as instructed by the State Comptroller, these efforts have no chance of being realized. Therefore, the State Comptroller’s report on the issue of education towards coexistence and the prevention of racism must be addressed immediately and his recommendations implemented.
Call for Boycott of Israel
Knesset Committee | Monday, November 21, 2016 | Discussion
The bill seeks to add a clause to the ethics code for Knesset members banning them from calling for a boycott of Israel. The penalty is suspension for a month from any Knesset activity, excluding voting.
ACRI’s position: This is part of a growing trend in recent years that seeks to limit boycott as a form of political protest. Boycott is a legal, non-violent tool that is considered legitimate around the world, including in Israel on a range of issues (for example consumerism and worker’s rights). This is another attempt by the political majority to silence dissent while infringing on freedom of speech. This case is especially grave because it harms Knesset members, whose freedom of speech and freedom to act is supposed to be under special protection as public representatives elected by a constituency, constituting an attempt to circumvent their immunity.
Cutting Salary Allowances for Asylum Seekers
Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee | November 21, 2016 | Preparation for second and third readings
ACRI’s position (together with other organizations): In December 2014, the Knesset approved the Anti-Infiltration Law through a flash procedure. Together with legislative amendments and a temporary order, it guaranteed of the departure of infiltrators into Israel. The goal of the bill was to approve the continued operation of the Holot detention facility after the High Court of Justice invalidated the legislation that enabled it’s functioning since September 2014.
However, the bill adopted in haste did not only address operation of the Holot detention center. It also included a reform to the 1991 Foreign Workers Law, according to which a fund for the deposit of salaries related to the “infiltrators’” labor was established.
The objective of the reform is to make the employment situation of asylum seekers harder. Their already low income was cut via a mandatory monthly deposit of 20% of their salaries into the fund. In addition, their employment was made more expensive by requiring employers to deposit an additional 16% of the cost of the workers’ salary into the fund on a monthly basis. The law also determines that substantial sums be deducted from the fund in relation to how long the “infiltrator” remains in Israel illegally.
This is an unprecedented salary deduction that will leave asylum seekers with an income that is below the minimum wage, and will dramatically impair their capacity to live in dignity.
The amendment to be discussed this week in the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee constitutes the last stage before the implementation of this draconian measure, which reduces the already meager salary paid to asylum seekers. Application of this measure directly contradicts the position of the Knesset Attorney General as well as the position of the State Comptroller and the Supreme Court. The regulation would further deteriorate the situation in which the disenfranchised areas asylum seekers reside, and could lead to a humanitarian crisis. ACRI, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, ASSAF, Amnesty International, the Workers’ Hotline and the African Refugee Development Center call on the committee to stop the advancement of this bill.
The Annexation of Ma’ale Adumim
Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee | Tuesday, November 22, 2016 | Discussion
ACRI’s position: The proposal to apply Israeli sovereignty and Israeli law in Ma’ale Adumim is another step in the effort to blur the differences between Israel and the Occupied Territories and to institutionalize discrimination between two populations that live inside the West Bank. Allegedly, the status-quo is that Military Law applies to all those who live in the West Bank. In practice, despite the fact that settlers live beyond the Green Line, they enjoy the rights and protections granted to citizens who live inside the Green Line. Palestinians, however, live under an oppressive military regime, which systematically violates their rights and does not provide them with the protections required by international humanitarian law. In addition, through this procedure, the Knesset seeks to apply Israeli law directly in the Occupied Territories, despite the fact that the legislative authority in these territories is in the hands of the army, not the Knesset.
Revocation of Citizenship for Reasons of Breach of Trust
Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee | Tuesday, November 22, 2016 | Preparation for second and third readings
In 2008, the Citizenship Law was amended to transfer formal authority for revoking citizenship from the Ministry of the Interior to the Courts. In the context of this government bill, hearings in the request to revoke citizenship from a person for reasons of breach of trust can take place in the citizen’s absence, and that the person’s entry to Israel can be prevented if s/he poses a danger. Furthermore, the Court, which is already entitled to deviate from evidence and discuss ex parte on the grounds that a person poses a threat to national security or to foreign relations, may now revoke a person’s citizenship on the grounds of “vital public interest.” The proposal also determines that the Interior Minister – and not the Court – will be the entity that determines status granted to the person at the end of the proceedings, and whether citizenship will be revoked.
ACRI’s position (together with Adalah): The mere authority of revoking a person’s citizenship is an extreme measure that constitutes a grave violation of human rights. This bill seeks to entrench an already draconian proceeding. It is important to remember that until now, proceedings for the revocation of citizenship have only been taken against Arab citizens. This legislation seeks to undermine the status of Arab citizens of Israel and send the message that their status and rights are not guaranteed.
