Reference number: 54/2020.
Date: April 28, 2020.
Original language: Arabic
Press Release
International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights demands presidency and Palestinian government to cancel decision of law on pension amendment, salaries and rewards of Legislative Council members, ministers and governors
ICSPR followed with great astonishment and condemnation the publication of both the Decree-Law No. 12 of 2020 concerning the amendment of the Public Pension Act No. 7 of 2005 and its amendments. The Decree-Law No. 4 of 2020 on amending the Law on remuneration of Legislative Council members, members of Government and Governors No. 11 of 2004 and its amendments.
The issuance and publication of these resolutions, especially in the present circumstances, on a dangerous and unprecedented scale, will lead to the waste of public money, the waste of funds from the Palestinian retirement Fund and the increased burden on the public treasury, given the scale of increases in the salaries of a number of senior officials with the rank of Minister. The heads of the institutions, the advisers of the President, the advisers of the Prime Minister, members of the Executive Committee and the presiding officer of an institution of the Central Committee, as well as the granting of substantial pension salaries without payment of pension benefits, and the return of financial contributions to staff with a minister’s degree.
ICSPR considering that the enforcement of these resolutions constitutes a real threat to the bankruptcy of the Palestinian retirement Authority and the public treasury at the expense of marginalized sectors of staff, and stressing that the adoption of these resolutions contradicts the declaration of the austerity state that proclaimed the state of health emergency, previous austerity measures regarding the Israeli seizure of clearing funds are registered and demand:
- ICSPR renews its firm position on the need to stop the flow of exceptional legislation (resolutions by law) and to abide by the constitutional authority of the President to issue exceptional legislation in case of necessity that cannot be delayed.
- ICSPR calls on the Palestinian presidency and government to cancel the decision of a law on the retirement amendment, the salaries of the Legislative Council members, ministers and governors, and to stop working immediately.
- ICSPR urges the Palestinian presidency and government to exert all efforts to end the Palestinian division and give priority to stop the sanctions imposed on the rights of the small employees, work on canceling the financial retirement, and correct the legal conditions of Gaza Strip employees, who are subject to the early retirement regulations in accordance with the standards of the national laws in force, in order to reinforce their sustainability in the current circumstances.
