Ref:
42/2010

On
15 April 2010, Jaber Weshah, Deputy Director of the Palestinian Center for
Human Rights (PCHR), and Khalil Shaheen, Director of PCHR Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights Unit, met with a Mission from the International Labour Office
(ILO). The ILO Mission was presided by
Friedrich Buttler, Special Representative of ILO Director-General.

During
the meeting, the developments of human rights situation and the destructive
impacts of the ongoing Israeli siege, which has been imposed on the Gaza strip
for years, were discussed. In
particular, the meeting addressed the conditions of dozens of Palestinian
workers who lost their jobs in Israel due to an Israeli decision to close the
Gaza Strip, which made unemployment rates shockingly increase in an
unprecedented manner.

The
meeting discussed the consequences of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip on
the agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors. It further discussed how this continued siege
destroyed the infrastructures of these sectors and deprived hundreds of
civilians of their works and sources of income. The meeting addressed the conditions of the Palestinian fishermen and
Israeli measures aimed at harassing them and denying them their right to work.

The
meeting further reviewed the state of political instability and its role in the
outflow of capitals and the hesitation of investors to establish investment
projects in the Gaza Strip. The current
conditions of hundreds of industrial, commercial and agricultural
establishments that were damaged during the latest Israeli offensive on the
Gaza Strip were discussed as well.

The
meeting also addressed Israeli systematic violations of the rights of the
Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip. Lately, Israel Discount Bank froze the accounts of social insurance of
approximately 700 workers from the Gaza Strip who sustained work injuries
during their work in Israel.  PCHR’s
Deputy Director gave the President of the Mission a file prepared by PCHR Legal
Aid Unit about Israel’s denial of social
insurance rights of hundreds of Palestinian workers.

The
meeting concluded by calling upon members of the Mission to urgently intervene
in order to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and to compel Israel to respect
human rights and international humanitarian law.

The
ILO Mission yearly visits the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, the
Syrian Arab Republic, the Arab Labor Organization and the League of Arab States
to review the conditions of Arab workers in the occupied territory.  This Mission is making deep deliberations with
many relevant parties to collect data that is used in the report that the ILO
Director-General, authorized by the International Labour Conference, yearly prepares
on the conditions of workers in the occupied Arab territories.