Unprotected rights
Editorial
Haaretz, 10 December 2002
This week Israel marks Civil Rights Week along with today's International Human Rights Day. In the tumult of the Knesset election campaign and in light of events that take place in the violent conflict with the Palestinians, it is difficult for the public to focus its attention on the civil and human rights that are the birthright of everyone in many countries.
In developed countries, human and civil rights are embedded in the legal system, whether by virtue of the country's constitution or as a result of international treaties, such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights and European Union treaties guaranteeing civil rights for citizens and residents of EU countries. Since 1967 Israel has controlled the lives of millions of Palestinians who lack any constitutional civil rights, but Israel has not even settled this vital matter inside the 1967 borders.
Political disputes prevent the continued promulgation of Basic Laws that would define these rights, and the completion of the legislation does not appear on the horizon. The public therefore is dependent on rulings by the Supreme Court when, as a High Court of Justice, it deals with petitions brought before it.
In some areas, there has been a worsening of the civil and human rights situation in Israel. A U.S. State Department report puts Israel in the company of states in which women are traded as sex slaves.
According to the police, some 3,000 women are traded as prostitutes every year in the country, but there are estimates that put the figure at much higher levels. Light punishment and plea bargains made with the pimps mitigate the deterrent effect necessary to put a stop to this crime.
The rights of foreign workers is another area that needs urgent attention. Manpower companies that import migrants seeking work in Israel take away their passports and house them in inhumane conditions. According to estimates by experts, there are more than 100,000 illegal aliens in Israel. Some arrived through wide-open borders, while others escaped their employers. These foreigners live in constant hiding and without any human rights.
Their children, who were born in Israel and have no other identity other than Israeli, go to Israeli schools but do not enjoy the benefits of medical treatment or services from the welfare system, to which they are entitled according to UN treaties that Israel has ratified.
Moreover, 40 Arab townships known as "unrecognized villages" lack official connections to the water and electricity infrastructure as well as educational, health and welfare services. Their children suffer from ongoing neglect.
These are the blatant examples. No less severe are cases of harm to freedom of expression, in the Shin Bet Law, and attempts by the Knesset and state to limit press freedom, as well as the freedom to marry and establish a family outside the constraints of the Orthodox Jewish monopoly.
A joint effort by all the organizations working for civil and human rights and MKs committed to the issue has so far yielded 11 important Basic Laws.
Nonetheless, there are still Basic Laws missing from such areas as the rights of the individual in the legal system, basic social rights, freedom of expression and freedom of information, and a basic law that would give constitutional status to all these basic laws. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a daily campaign to promote civil rights in Israel.
