Issue No. 11 February 2008

In Brief

State to Register Adoptions by Same-Sex Couples

In January, the State announced it would withdraw its petition challenging a 2000 landmark ruling in which the High Court ordered the registration of an adoption performed abroad by a lesbian couple. ACRI originally petitioned the Court in 1999, on behalf of Nicole and Ruti Berner-Kadish, to demand that the State recognize Nicole’s adoption of Ruti’s biological son, Matan, in California. Following the Court's ruling in their favor, the Interior Ministry submitted a petition demanding that the decision be revoked. Now that the petition has been withdrawn, many same-sex couples will finally be able to live as families before the law, after the State's petition froze the process for many years.

Sweeping Movement Restrictions in Nablus

A checkpoint in Nablus

ACRI scored a partial victory in easing restrictions on movement for residents of the West Bank city of Nablus, following our petition against the prohibition on entire population groups (generally men between the ages of 16-35) from exiting the Nablus area; the closure, instituted in 2006 effectively sealed off an area with 200,000 residents. As a result of the petition, the IDF rescinded many of the restrictions it had imposed on the area, and the Court acknowledged the extreme harm and human rights violations inherent in sweeping restrictions on freedom of movement. The IDF also withdrew its order classifying large parts of the West Bank as a closed military zone. Despite these achievements, ACRI continues to challenge harsh and sweeping restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank.

A Victory for Universal Health Care

In December, the Knesset approved an arrangement between the Ministries of Health and Finance that prevents Israel's health funds from including life-saving drugs and other essential treatments only in their supplementary insurance plans and includes an expansion of the universal health basket of services – available free of charge to all Israelis. This landmark victory was the result of an intensive campaign by ACRI and our partner NGOs to highlight among decision-makers the dangers of an increasingly privatized health system that gravely violates the right to health of the poor and the sick.

Population Registry Ordered to become Fully Transparent

In a precedent-setting ruling issued in December 2007, the Jerusalem District Court accepted ACRI's petition and ordered the Interior Ministry to publish the full procedures of the Population Registry within 30 days. The petition, submitted with a coalition of human rights organizations, stressed that the Population Registry exerts enormous influence on hundreds of thousands of individuals in Israel, because its clerks determine who can enter and live in Israel legally; as such, obtaining information from the Ministry regarding residency status processes is critical for individuals seeking status in Israel, and thus all procedures must be fully transparent.

Harsh Conditions in Prison for Child Asylum-Seekers

In January, ACRI, as part of a coalition of human rights organizations, submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, condemning the illegal detention of the children of asylum-seekers in the Ketziot prison in very harsh conditions. More than 100 children, ranging in age from several weeks to 17 years old, are the sons and daughters of asylum-seekers from Africa who are also being held in the prison because Israel has not granted them entry. The petition highlighted the harsh conditions the children – most of whom fled their own conflict-stricken countries – must endure, such as exposure to the elements and the desert cold as well as the lack of proper plumbing, hot water, and sanitary and hygiene conditions. It also condemned the fact that the indefinite detention of minors is illegal, and that the state has provided no educational framework, or social and psychological services for these children.

Hotline Success Story: Workers' Rights

R., a full-time employee of one of Israel's largest food companies, was recently told by her supervisor that the company didn't have any work for her, and that she couldn't work until it did. During that time, she worked occasionally for an hourly wage.

Knowing that denying an employee pay and benefits temporarily is illegal, R. turned to ACRI's Public Hotline. In November 2007, a hotline volunteer submitted a letter to the company, demanding that the company pay S. the salary entitled to her, or to officially lay her off and offer her the full, lawful compensation package. Shortly thereafter, R. was informed she could return to work full-time and receive her regular salary and benefits package.

Ethnic Segregation in Ultra-Orthodox Schools

ACRI submitted a legal intervention to the Education Ministry, demanding an end to ethnic segregation in the Beit Yaacov school for girls in Emmanuel. At the beginning of the current academic year, a separate school was opened for Ashkenazi girls in the school compound, and Mizrahi (Jews of Eastern origin) girls were left to study in the original building. The two schools were separated by a fence, and classes and recess breaks were scheduled for different times, so the girls would not interact. Ashkenazi children claim they are being separated from their Mizrahi classmates because their "spiritual level" is lower than their own.

The Right to Adequate Housing

With the advent of winter and the dangers facing homeless people exposed to the often bitter cold, ACRI intervened before the Ministry of Social Welfare to demand that it order any locality with more than 15 homeless people to set up shelters for them. In recent years, Israel has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of people living on streets, including entire families. The intervention highlighted the fact that living on the street endangers people's lives and health, and the lack of public shelters makes it difficult for them to recuperate and return to a normal lifestyle.

ACRI's Public Hotline

ACRI operates a “Public Hotline” for consultation and information on rights entitlement: 02-6521218 (Jerusalem and the south), 03-5608185 (Tel Aviv, the Sharon area and the center of the country), and 04-8526333/4/5 (Haifa and the north of the country).

© ACRI 2007
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
PO Box 34510
Jerusalem 91000
Israel

Tel: +972-2-652-1218
Fax: +972-2-652-1219
E-mail: mail@acri.org.il
www.acri.org.il

A Message from Rachel Benziman: ACRI's Executive Director

Dear Friends,

It is my pleasure to report to you on our progress over the past few months. During the second week of December, we marked Human Rights Week with a range of public events and the release of our annual State of Human Rights Report. Through the high-profile report we succeeded in putting human rights at the top of the public agenda. We received widespread media coverage the world over, much of which focused on the alarming rise in racism in Israeli society. The report prompted President Shimon Peres to issue a statement calling for redoubled efforts to achieve "equality, mutual respect and tolerance between Jews and Arabs."

ACRI packed Human Rights Week with a series of lively events ranging from movie screenings to improvisational theater to a children's art exhibit and lectures. Please read more about these successful events below.

On a more serious note, the past month has seen the escalation of the violent conflict in Gaza and southern Israel. While Kassam rockets rain down on Sderot and the Gaza-border communities, Israel launched an unprecedented blockade on Gaza in January, effectively imposing collective punishment on the area's 1.5 million residents. Gaza residents – especially, the poor, sick, women and children – continue to live with severe shortages of heat, electricity, food, and other basic supplies. ACRI strongly condemned Israel's action in a public campaign under the headline, "Darkness in Gaza won't Bring Light to Sderot."

Please read the rest of our newsletter for more updates on our work.

With Best Wishes,

Rachel Benziman

After Winograd: ACRI Urges Independent, External Inquiries into Israel's Respect of International Law

On January 30, the Winograd Commission published its report on the conduct of Israel's political and military brass during the Second Lebanon War. ACRI was pleased that the commission implemented our recommendation to investigate Israel's compliance with international law. ACRI also supports the committee’s call to conduct an independent appraisal of the IDF’s rules and principles on the use of cluster bombs and in all cases where there are suspected breaches of international law.

From Painting and Debka to Film and Theater: ACRI Celebrated Human Rights Week with Flare!

Human Rights Week 2007

In December 2007, ACRI continued our annual tradition of marking International Human Rights Day (December 10) with a varied program of public events, publications, and activities designed to place human rights in the public spotlight for an entire week. This year's Human Rights Week was unprecedented in terms of the ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, geographical, and age diversity of the audiences that we succeeded in reaching.

Children Draw Human Rights

Some 300 people attended the festive launch of ACRI's annual "Children Draw Human Rights" Exhibition in Tamra during Human Rights Week in December. The festive gathering was the capstone event of a months-long program in which ACRI's educators instructed elementary and middle-school teachers in the Arab school system on how to express rights through painting. Artwork produced by students through the project was displayed in individual schools, and the best pieces were showcased in a traveling exhibit, launched at the Tamra event. In addition to enjoying the children's art, participants were privy to insightful talks on education and human rights as well as a lively performance by a local Debka dance group. This year, 14 schools in the North and in the Negev participated – our largest program yet.

ACRI's State of Human Rights Report 2007 and our Human Rights Week events received wide-ranging coverage in the media. Articles about the report and interviews with ACRI's staff and board appeared in more than 150 Hebrew-language, 100 Arabic-language, 30 Russian-language, and 25 international online, broadcast, and print media. View this article in the Forward for a sample.

Health – Not for the Rich Only!

Every year in the run-up to Human Rights Week, ACRI's Education Department produces an eye-catching poster – each year representing a different human right. This year, 10,000 copies of our poster, depicting the Right to Health under the headline of "Health - Not for the Rich Only," was distributed free of charge to all of Israel's schools by the Education Ministry and to community centers, senior citizens’ homes, clinics and hospitals, and NGOs. Accordingly, ACRI runs workshops for teachers and community leaders on how to use the poster to stimulate discussion of human rights, reflection, and action among their constituents. To view the poster on a larger scale, click here.

Improv Actors "Perform" Rights

Human Rights Week also saw the success of a new formula ACRI has implemented to bring human rights to life for diverse audiences: improvisational theater. Theater is an effective medium that appeals to a wide range of people. By inviting members to recount their stories and then have them performed by actors, we are able to take the pulse of the Israeli public, but also see and present human rights from different perspectives.

During Human Rights Week, ACRI co-organized a highly innovative and interactive evening in Tel Aviv, which was attended by some 100 people of all ages and backgrounds. During the evening, various audience members (aged seven to seventy) related personal experiences connected to human rights, and actors from the Playback theater company improvised vivid dramatic representations of these stories.

Human Rights Day in Sderot: ACRI joined other social change organizations to mark Human Rights Day at Sapir College in Sderot, the southern town that has been the target of ongoing Kassam rocket attacks in recent years. Actors from the Playback theater troupe acted out stories of human rights violations told by audience members. ACRI also led a study session on the place of human rights in Jewish sources at Sapir College's Hillel club.

On December 16, ACRI presented its Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award to Kolech – A Religious Women's Forum for its monumental contribution to women's rights and human rights in Israel. ACRI celebrated Kolech with an inspiring evening of improvisational theatre based on the stories of five "groundbreaking" women in the Jewish and Muslim sectors.

Above: Dr. Hannah Kehat, Kolech's founder, accepts the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award.

Human Rights Day in Rahat

In December, ACRI participated in Human Rights Day in the Bedouin town of Rahat, an event designed to expose the local residents to the work of social-change organizations and the issues we address. The day, which was organized in the format of a Hyde Park Speakers' Corner, was a resounding success. More than 1,000 people attended, primarily residents of Rahat.

Online Rights Forum for Youth in Arabic

The public hotline in ACRI's Haifa branch conducted an online forum for Arab youth to give them an opportunity to ask ACRI's legal staff questions about various rights: the right to equality; the rights of workers under the age of 18; the right to equality, and the police's authority to conduct searches and other potential invasions of privacy.

Other events during Human Rights Week included:

§ An evening of lectures, discussion, and a film screening about multiculturalism and human rights at the Haifa Cinematheque.

§ Human Rights Drama - Dilemma for Russian-speakers in Ashdod. ACRI's Russian-speaking community outreach coordinator and our public outreach staff organized this interactive and engaging evening with a local theatre group. Professional actors from Ashdod brought to life human rights dilemmas and issues raised by the audience members, who determined the ending of each skit.

Also during Human Rights Week, ACRI launched a new public outreach campaign with an Internet banner taunting readers with the phrase "You Can't Surf Here." Internet surfers who clicked on the banner read about threats to our basic rights and were given the opportunity to sign up to support ACRI and help us ensure equal rights for all. Through the campaign, we recruited more than 1,500 new supporters.