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The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11) in Israel and the Occupied Territories

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The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11) in Israel and the Occupied Territories Refereed: Israel’s initial report submitted to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant (E/1990/5/Add.39) The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11) in Israel and the Occupied Territories Parallel information to the initial report of Israel concerning Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Submitted at the occasion of the 19th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (16 November - 4 December, 1998) b FIAN International, an NGO in consultative status with ECOSOC, working for the Human Right to Feed Oneself. Preface FIAN, the international human rights organization for the right to feed oneself, would like to present a parallel report to the periodic report on Israel submitted by the Israeli Government. Of the many questions concerning economic human rights in Israel, FIAN will here concentrate on the right to freedom from hunger and the right to adequate food of a limited number of vulnerable groups in Israel and the occupied territories. Particular attention is paid to the case certain Bedouin communities. The State of Israel has the obligation under international law to respect the right to adequate food of everyone in Israel, and also in other areas under its control. Israel is a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Under Art. 11 of the ICESCR, State Parties undertake to realize the right to freedom from hunger and the right to adequate food. The right to adequate food, or the right to feed oneself, is based on having access to food in dignity. Therefore, states are obliged to: C Respect the access to food adequate in quality and quantity; a food intake that allows for an active and healthy life, that is nutritionally balanced, free of toxic substances and culturally acceptable. This obligation means that states must not adopt any measures that destroy access to the resources necessary for the food security of groups or individuals. C Protect the existing access to food against aggression by third parties: and C Fulfill the food security of everyone, i.e. to ensure that all have access to food in dignity, especially vulnerable persons and groups. To this end, governments are in particular obliged to take the necessary administrative and legislative measures, such as social security legislation and predictable and fair labour market regulations. Based on Art. 16 of the ICESCR, the State Parties, including Israel, have the duty to present reports on the measures they have adopted and the progress they have made in order to guarantee the respect of the rights included in the Covenant. In order to meet this duty, the states should follow the guidelines of the CESCR. According to a note by the UN Secretary-General, those guidelines have been adopted to facilitate the elaboration of the State Reports and to avoid inadequateness or insufficiency. Art. 11 of the Covenant clearly states the kind of information required. According to Clause 2, a sufficient reference to the right to food has to be made. Strictly speaking, a general description of the countries implementation of the right to feed oneself, the sources of information, studies on the food situation and supervisory measures, the statistical data on the existence of famine and/or malnutrition in the country has to be provided. Specific aspects of especially vulnerable or disadvantaged groups should be taken into account. The serious concerns brought forward in this report are mainly linked to the access to productive resources, particularly land, and the access to work. Without claiming to give an exhaustive account of the situation, this report contains significant evidence showing that the Government 2 of Israel deliberately commits gross violations of the right to adequate food of people in the occupied territories. Parallel information to the initial report of Israel concerning the right to adequate food as enshrined in the the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................... 4 1.1 Background .................................................... 4 1.2 Geography ..................................................... 4 1.3 Economy ...................................................... 5 1.4 Population ..................................................... 5 1.5 Standard of Living ............................................... 5 2. LEGAL PROTECTION ................................................ 6 3. ACCESS TO LAND ................................................... 7 3.1 Bedouins ...................................................... 7 3.1.1 The Jahalin ....................................... 9 3.1.2 Forced Evictions .................................. 10 4. ACCESS TO MARKETS .............................................. 12 5. THE STATE REPORT AND THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD ........... 14 6. CONCLUSION ...................................................... 15 Annex SUGGESTED QUESTIONS TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 50 years after the creation of the State of Israel, the country is still entangled in disputes concerning, inter alia, borders and natural resources. Major efforts to deal with these and other issues have been made during the last years, most recently on October 23rd 1998, when mostly old promises once again were put on paper and signed. Israel upholds its dominant role in the region much due to external support. Its ability to put major military force behind its words contributes to the significant impact it exercises in and outside of Israel. In relation to the Palestinian Authority, Israel's political powers are extensive. According to the Oslo Declaration of Principles, the military law of the occupation remains the legal foundation of government throughout the transition period (up till 1999). Israel has a veto over all Palestinian legislation. The agreement states that Israeli security considerations override any other provision. This makes it technically possible for Israel to justify actions that are against the spirit of the agreement. Although Israeli Settlers only constitute an estimated 0,6 percent (1996) of the population of Gaza, Israel controls at least 44 percent of the area. In the West Bank, where 17 percent of the population are Jews, Israel controls 78 percent of the total land area.1 Israel also controls the international borders between the West Bank and Jordan and between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. These facts have changed do some extent following the Wye-agreement of October 23, 1998. According to this Palestinians may move freely between Gaza and the West Bank. A piece of the West Bank has also been given to the Palestinians. Both these provisions, along with the others, have been part of earlier agreements but never respected. 1.2 Geography The State of Israel has a total land area of 20,770 sq. km ( 27,800 or 1/3 larger, the occupied territories of the West Bank (approx. 80 percent), the Gaza Strip (approx. 44 percent), and the Golan Heights taken into account). Its immediate neighbours include Lebanon and Syria to the north/northeast, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the west. The land comprises four natural regions: the coastal plains, with a Mediterranean climate, the country's only agricultural centre; a central hilly and mountainous region, stretching from Galilee to Judea; the western lowlands, bound on the north by the Jordan River, which flows into the Dead Sea; and the Negev Desert to the south which covers half of the total territory. 1Roy, Sara, 1997, speech at Brown University, USA 4 1.3 Economy Situated in the midst of a region with widespread poverty, Israel is a developed market economy with a real GDP growth rate of 4.6 percent in 1996. Agriculture, together with fishing and forestry, contributes relatively little to the economy: 3.5 percent. The main agricultural products are fruits for export, grapes, cotton, beet, potatoes and wheat. Industrial production accounts for 22 percent of the GDP and is growing rapidly. The service sector is the largest economic sector with 74.5 percent of the GDP. Foreign assistance contributes a great deal to Israel’s state budget. The country depends on foreign markets for imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials and military equipment. Israeli markets, in turn, are extremely important for the Palestinian production. West Bank's and Gaza's trade with Israel represents 80 percent of the exports and 90 percent of the imports. Tens of thousands of Palestinians also depend on the Israeli markets for their access to work. 1.3 Population In July 1997, the total population was estimated to 5,863,000, of which Jews constitute the largest ethnic group (80.2 percent), followed by Muslims (14.9 percent), Christians (3.2 percent), and Druze and other groups (1.7 percent). This figure includes an estimated 136,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank (17 percent of tot. pop.), 15,000 in the Israeli Occupied Golan Heights, at least 5,000 in the Gaza Strip (0,6 percent of the tot. pop.), and 156,000 in East Jerusalem (as of August 1996). Since the inception of the State of Israel in 1948, the country has received large numbers of immigrants. Since the beginning of the 1990s the influx of immigrants has increased considerably, notably from the former USSR . The population grows naturally by 2.01 percent (1997 estimates). Taking the immigration into account, the Israeli population has
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