International Advocacy 2011

UN Advocacy

Adalah submitted a new NGO report in October 2011 to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) to assist it in its review of Israel, which took place in Geneva on 16-17 November 2011. The Committee monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which Israel ratified in 1991.

Adalah Press Release (26 November 2011): Adalah Participates in UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Review of Israel in Geneva

UN Press Release (14 November 2011): Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights holds discussion with NGOs (ADALAH'S PARTICIPATION NOTED)

Adalah Press Release (25 October 2011): Adalah Submits New Report to UN on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Arab Citizens of Israel

Adalah Press Release (10 January 2011): UN Committee Poses Tough Questions to Israel on: Rights of Arab Bedouin in the Naqab, Iqrit and Bir'im, the JNF and the Use of Military Service to Exclude Arab Citizens from Employment

In February 2011, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) issued its "Concluding Observations on Israel," in which it called on Israel to ensure equal rights of Arab women citizens. The Committee adopted many of the issues raised by the Working Group on the Status of Palestinian Women Citizens in Israel (of which Adalah is a member) relating to the status of Palestinian women citizens of Israel in its joint NGO report.

Adalah Press Release (23 February 2011): UN: Israel Must Ensure Equal Rights for Arab Women Citizens

For the International Day Against Torture (26 June), Adalah, Al Mezan and PHR-I released a position paper urging Israel to stop using solitary confinement as a means of incarcerating prisoners. The paper, in Arabic, Hebrew and English, was widely publicized and distributed. It was also sent to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN HCHR.

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Report on Solitary Confinement (5 August 2011): Interim report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (A/66/268)

Adalah Press Release (26 June 2011): On International Day Against Torture: Israel Must Immediately End Use of Solitary Confinement of Prisoners

Adalah submitted a report to the Turkel Committee, which was formed by the Israeli government to investigate the events of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla of May 2010 and Israel's military investigation system. The information relevant to Israel's military investigation system was also submitted to the UN-mandated Independent Legal Experts Group (ILEG), which continued in 2011 to assess the status of domestic investigations regarding Operation Cast Lead in Gaza (2008-2009).

Independent Legal Expert Group Report (2011): Report of the Committee of independent experts in international humanitarian and human rights law established pursuant to Council resolution 13/9

Adalah briefed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR), Navi Pillay, and UN officials during the HCHR's first official visit to Israel and the OPT in February 2011. Adalah called for the HCHR's urgent attention to 3 issues: Israel's attempt to forcibly displace the Arab Bedouin in the Naqab; the lack of accountability for the October 2000 killings (see The Accused—Part II: Failures and Omissions by the Attorney General in Investigating the October 2000 Events); and the lack of independent investigations in Israel concerning scores of complaints for the victims of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

Adalah Press Release (24 February 2011): UN HCHR Navi Pillay: "An Overarching Human Rights Concern is the Lack of Accountability"

EU Advocacy

Adalah participated in a "EU training for European NGOs", organized by the Euro-Mediterrean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and held in Brussels in June 2011. Adalah presented on its advocacy experiences with the "EU and the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel" report.

In May 2011, the EU issued its ENP Progress Report for 2010. The report highlighted numerous issues raised in the two reports submitted by Adalah and its partners in December 2010 on Israel's implementation of the EU-Israel Action Plan.

ENP Progress Report (25 May 2011): Implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy in 2010 Country Report: Israel

Adalah, PHR-I and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Gaza) presented a joint briefing note on Palestinian prisoners' rights in March 2011 to the EU Parliament Sub-Committee on Human Rights in advance of its meeting on the question of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Briefing Note (March 2011): Palestinian Prisoners' Rights

Adalah participated in an advocacy mission with EMHRN and EMHRN members Al Haq, PCHR and PCATI to London in March 2011. Adalah provided information on the Arab Bedouin in the Naqab and new anti-democratic and discriminatory laws in Israel.

In 02/11, Adalah, the EMHRN, and the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) published a new report, "The EU and the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel." This report is the first to examine EU policies toward the Arab minority in Israel in detail and to make a series of concrete recommendations to the EU for an enhanced and proactive rights-based strategy towards the minority. Adalah and its partners launched the report to diplomats and NGOs in Brussels and Tel Aviv.

Immediately following the release of the report, in February 2011, the EU issued an important statement after the tenth meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council calling upon Israel for the first time "to increase efforts to address the economic and social situation of the Arab minority, to enhance their integration in Israeli society, and protect their rights."

Adalah Press Release (23 February 2011): EU: Israel Should Increase Efforts to Protect Rights of the Arab Minority

Adalah Press Release (13 February 2011): NEW REPORT: The EU Should Pursue an Enhanced and Proactive Rights-Based Strategy towards the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel

Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel engaged in numerous joint advocacy initiatives before the EU and in EU member states during 2011 on the issues of threats and attacks on human rights defenders (HRDs), anti-democratic / discriminatory laws and trends, rights violations against prisoners and detainees, and equality for the Arab minority in Israel.

US Advocacy

Adalah participated in a Project Engage organized US advocacy visit in May 2011 together with ten other human rights organizations in Israel. The group met with US State Department officials to discuss the 2011 US State Department Human Rights Report for Israel and the OPT. The group also met with advisors and legislative assistants for US Congressional representatives, as well as prominent US-based organizations working on Israel/OPT to them brief them on key rights concerns.

Academic Conferences

Adalah General Director Attorney Hassan Jabareen participated in a three-day academic conference, "Constitutional Revolutions and Counter-Revolutions," held at The New School in New York in May 2011. He participated in two panels designed to explore the law and politics of constitutional revolutions in a comparative context.

Conference Program (7 May 2011): Constitutional Revolutions and Counter-Revolutions

Adalah General Director Attorney Hassan Jabareen participated in an academic conference entitled, "Minority Rights and Multiculturalism in the Arab World," in Rome in March 2011. Here he presented a paper on the status of Palestinians in Israel. The conference, hosted by Istituto di Studi Politici - Roma, Liberia University – Italy and Queen's University - Canada, consisted of five panels on state- minority relations in general and in North Africa; ethnicity and religion; models of multi-culturalism in the Arab World; and a concluding roundtable.

Conference Program (25-26 March 2011): Minority Rights and Multiculturalism in the Arab World