Ref: 30/2006
Date: 22 June 2006
Proceedings of the First Session on the Second Day of the Conference on “The New Palestinian Government and the Human Rights Agenda”
On Thursday morning, 22 June 2006, PCHR initiated the proceedings of the second day of the conference on “The New Palestinian Government and the Human Rights Agenda”. Dr. Ibrahim Abrash, Professor of Political Science at al-Azhar University in Gaza, headed the first session of this section on economic, social and cultural rights.
In his paper entitled “The Right to Adequate Housing: Evaluation of Housing Projects for People Whose Houses Have Been Destroyed,” Dr. Bassam Abu Hasheesh, Professor of Education at al-Aqsa University in Gaza, talked about the nature of projects undertaken to rehabilitate victims of violations of the right to adequate housing. He pointed out that official and unofficial institutions had to assume their responsibilities to people whose homes had been destroyed, leaving thousands of Palestinian civilians homeless. He indicated that these institutions have made efforts to provide shelter for the affected families, through construction and reparation projects. The Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing, according to Dr. Abu Hasheesh, repaired 62.6% of the houses which had been damaged, but reconstructed only 62 out of 4,669 houses that had been completely destroyed in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA, Dr. Abu Hasheesh added, focused on housing projects for affected Palestinian civilians in Rafah and Khan Yunis, through two large projects; one near the European Hospital, east of Khan Yunis, and the other one in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in the West of Rafah. The two projects cost US$ 8,757,272, which was provided by various donors. Concerning NGOs, Dr. Abu Hasheesh asserted that they played a major role in efforts to realize the right to adequate housing. Dr. Abu Hasheesh further indicated that the small number of houses built by the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing for affected people can be attributed to the lack of funds.
In the conclusion of his paper, Dr. Abu Hasheesh called upon the Palestinian government to provide financial resources to meet its obligations to people, whose houses had been destroyed; to amend legislation to be consistent with relevant human rights instruments; to demand reparation and compensation from the perpetrator of violations of the right to adequate housing; to provide alternative appropriate housing to meet the conditions of adequate housing, in order to replace those that have been destroyed.
In her paper entitled “The Right to Work: Mechanisms to End Unemployment and Poverty”, Ms. Eitemad Muhanna, Development Specialist, questioned who is really responsible for protecting the right of Palestinians to appropriate living conditions. She argued that people think that the Palestinian National Authority is responsible for ensuring their right to work and obtain an income that can ensure appropriate living conditions. This very right, Ms. Muhanna argued, defeated the previous government and brought in a new Hamas-led government. Ms. Muhanna pointed out that Hamas came into power legitimately, but she asked how Hamas can use this legitimacy to manage an authority, the basis of which it does not recognise. She added that we should admit that the Palestinian government is part of an authority established by the Oslo Accords under specific contractual conditions, rather than an authority that was established in the framework of sovereign national statehood.
Ms. Mauhannda wondered if legitimacy under such complications is enough for Hamas to protect the rights of Palestinians to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education, which are fundamental human rights that go beyond political and ideological considerations. She further wonders how a balance can be established between the right of Palestinians to appropriate living conditions and the right to resist the occupation, which is now responsible for depriving them of the first right.
Ms. Muhanna concluded that ending this crisis is the practical option, which requires a new political approach. This will not necessarily force Hamas to concede its ideology and policies but also will not deal with the stronger and decisive international approach statically.
In his paper entitled “The New Government’s Platform from the Perspective of the Right to Development,” Mr. Omar Shaban, Human Development Specialist, asserted that it is difficult to evaluate the performance of the new Palestinian government due to its short period in existence. He added that development that does not take place with people’s participation is a failure, considering that the world is not a small village and that there are huge gaps. For example, there is a difference of nearly 200 years between Britain and Somalia with regard to development.
Mr. Shaban also made a comparison among three governments: the Palestinian, the Israeli, and the Egyptian governments. He asserted that the Palestinian governmental program, like previous governmental programs, is political and there are no mechanisms to monitor is implementation. He pointed out that the siege does not prevent the government from providing a detailed governmental program.
On behalf of Mr. Alaa al-Aaraj, Minister of National Economy, Mr. Mohammed al-Raei, Deputy Director General of Policies at the Ministry of National Economy, presented an intervention on economic and social rights. He emphasized that the rights to work, adequate housing and development are ensured by all international legal instruments, and nobody is entitled to violate such rights. Mr. al-Raei pointed out that the right of our people to appropriate living conditions is being violated through the impoverishment of our people, depriving them of their rights to work, destroying their homes and undermining any possibilities for real development. Nevertheless, Mr. al-Raei emphasized that the government has presented an economic program that focuses on providing basic needs for the Palestinian people and developing production sectors through the promotion of the national economy, financial and administrative reform, and creating an appropriate environment for investment.
Mr. al-Raei added that in the short term the government would not be able to achieve real development that would enhance production and investment and would lead to improving living conditions for the Palestinian people, holding the international community and Israeli occupation fully responsible for the deterioration in economic conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In the medium and long terms, Mr. al-Raei added, the government expects that the unjust siege would be lifted, and the development plans presented by the government would be the foundation of real sustainable development, referring to the Palestinian medium-termed development plan (2006-2008).
At the end of the first session, its head, Dr. Abrash, opened the floor for discussion.
PCHR opened the conference with the participation of at least 500 officials, representatives of political factions, representatives of NGOs, academics, jurists, media officials and representatives of a number of international organizations, including:
1. June Ray, Head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories;
2. Agnetha Johansson, from Internal Legal Assistance Consortium – Sweden;
3. Isabelle Scherer, from International Commission of Jurists – Switzerland;
4. Donatella Rovera, from Amnesty International – London;
5. Lucy Mair, Human Rights Watch – USA; and
6. Georges Henri Beauthier, a lawyer from Belgium.
