Friday, June 08, 2007

[IWS] ILO: SITUATION OF WORKERS in OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES [28 May 2007]

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016
-------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

International Labour Office Geneva

International Labour Conference, 96th Session, 2007
Report of the Director-General
Appendix

The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories [28 May 2007]
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc96/pdf/rep-i-a-ax.pdf
[full-text, 48 pages]

[excerpt]
This Report was prepared, as in previous years, following high-level missions to
Israel and the occupied Arab territories and to the Syrian Arab Republic. The missions
enjoyed once more the full cooperation of ILO constituents and concerned parties,
reaffirming support for the ILO.s efforts to contribute to building peace and security in
the region through monitoring and assessing economic and social development in its
fields of competence.

My representatives held direct in-depth consultations with a wide range of
interested parties, including ILO partners in the occupied Arab territories and
constituents in the Syrian Arab Republic and in Israel, with United Nations agencies,
human rights organizations, and national non-governmental and international
intergovernmental organizations.

This Report describes the grim plight of people in the occupied Palestinian
territories and in the occupied Syrian Golan. Violence has continued to affect both
Palestinian and Israeli civilians, but with very different levels of intensity. Economic
activity has declined sharply, leading to more widespread poverty, precarious
employment and unemployment.

Enterprises find it increasingly difficult to operate amid escalating logistical costs.
Workers and their families are faced with shrinking employment opportunities and
erratic payment of wages. Permits and checkpoints mark daily life. Palestinian
government institutions are grappling with a decline in resources. Confrontations
between Palestinians further complicate the situation.

The immediate cause of economic and social hardship is the pervasive system of
closures and controls, including the Separation Barrier, put in place by the occupying
power. But a large part of the security measures deployed by the Israeli Government
seek to protect Israeli citizens who have settled in the occupied Arab territories. This
protection is at the same time causing economic and social insecurity for the people in
those territories.

A situation of prosperity and security, on the one side, and military occupation,
poverty and insecurity, on the other, is fraught with dangers for both sides and is not
sustainable.

AND MORE....


Contents
Page
Preface............................................................................................................................ iii
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1
1. Gradual disintegration of the Palestinian social and economic fabric....................... 3
2. Continuing patterns of tight closure and control....................................................... 8
3. An economy under siege......................................................................................... 21
4. Governance and rights ............................................................................................ 28
5. Conclusions............................................................................................................. 32
References...................................................................................................................... 35
Annex.............................................................................................................................. 37
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

****************************************
Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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