As a result of an intervention by ACRI's public hotline staff, the security guards at the Israel Military Industries factory can now wear any type of kippa (Jewish head covering) they desire during work hours. In October, a security guard from the factory contacted ACRI's hotline, complaining that the factory's security officer forbade him from wearing a "wide kippa" because it violated the security guards' dress code. Once ACRI brought the guard's complaint to the security supervisor's attention, he issued an order permitting all security guards to wear any type of kippa, "without restrictions."

In response to a petition ACRI submitted to the Jerusalem Administrative Court on behalf of 33 East Jerusalem children left out of the public school system, the Jerusalem Municipality has integrated 26 of them into public classrooms. For two months, these children, aged 6 to 16, did not attend classes. Another 7 children listed on the petition were forced to enroll in private schools. The recent petition highlighted the severe neglect of East Jerusalem schools: a lack of some 1,500 classrooms, severe overcrowding, and a 50% dropout rate among middle and high school students. Photo above: A classroom improvised in a bathroom, East Jerusalem. Credit: ActiveStills.org.

The Working Group for Equality in Personal Status Issues, of which ACRI is an active member, launched a campaign on November 14 to raise Israel's legal marriage age from 17 to 18. The campaign's objective is to urge Knesset members to vote on draft legislation that would eliminate child marriage (under age 18) and to raise awareness of this dangerous trend. Child marriage violates girls' freedom of choice and their rights to health, complete development, and education. Israel is one of the only Western countries to permit children to marry legally. For more information, click here.

At the start of the new academic year, ACRI's Education Department launched an innovative online resource center for teachers combining technology, human rights, and current events. The forum provides teachers with educational materials, such as films and ideas for discussions, to help them to integrate human rights values into the classroom through the discussion and analysis of current events. The site highlights the importance of civic awareness and activism, as well as the crucial role human rights play in our daily lives.

As part of a new campaign to promote the right to health, ACRI, the Adva Center, and Physicians for Human Rights published an in-depth position paper on the negative effects of the privatization of Israel's health-care system. ACRI urges the government to stop encouraging health funds and hospitals to function as for-profit institutions and to include life-saving medications in the universal, free health basket. The privatization of health and the expansion of premium health-care services discriminate against Israel's poorest populations and those requiring extensive or continuous medical care.

In response to a petition submitted by ACRI and other human rights organizations, the High Court of Justice on September 24 ordered the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to forge within three months a policy for marketing and leasing its land that would not discriminate against Israel's Arab citizens. JNF land has historically been reserved for Jews only, but it has been forced to adopt a complex land-swap policy to avoid overtly excluding Arab citizens from bidding on tenders. For more information on ACRI's work relating to JNF land distribution, click here.

In November, ACRI conducted the first in a series of workshops on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) for NGO professionals, educators, and media professionals. The course teaches participants to identify human rights violations during armed conflicts, according to IHL. The workshop's overriding aim is to increase participants' commitment to and understanding of IHL principles and values so they can subsequently train their own constituents. "Israel, as an occupying force in the Palestinian Territories, is responsible for protecting the human rights of some 4 million individuals," said Ronit Piso, ACRI's IHL Program Coordinator. "It's critical that journalists, teachers, and other people who exert such wide influence over the public understand the significance of that responsibility ."