Mr. Moaz Za’tari, the General Manager of Al-Maqdese, and the Head of Board Dr. Bashar Al-Azeh had a meeting with the Fact Finding Mission of ILO headed by the Special Adviser of the General Director Kerry Tapiola and the expert of international standards, equality and immigrant workers Ms. Shawna Olni, and Mr. Martin Owels the expert of legal affairs and human rights, in addition to Mr. Munir Qleibo, the head of ILO in Palestine.
The meeting was conducted in the beginning of this month, it aimed to inform the mission to the most important violations related to Palestinian workers in Jerusalem through presenting the most significant cases that Al-Maqdese is legally following. These cases are related to Palestinian workers’ rights who work for Israeli employers or those who work in International organizations and commissions and are exposed to different violations. Violations are also related to illegal items in work contracts and rights resulting of these violations, in addition to collective cases that Al-Maqdese Legal Clinic works on.
Al-Maqdese informed the mission about the lastest statistics and figures related to Palestinian workers and their work condition and physical and psychological attacks they suffer from in light of discrimination policies in Jerusalem. Al-Maqdese data bank documents these regular violations and keeps in contact with these workers who are being beaten and humiliated, in order to provide them with legal aid and support.
It is important to mention that the ILO mission is currently working on preparing an annual report about the situation of Palestinian and Arab workers in the Occupied Territories and the economic and development situation.