ICSPR stresses that cutting public employees’ salaries constitutes a legal and national crime, and calls on the government to abide by the provisions of Palestinian law and by its obligations to respect human rights.

ICSPR stresses that cutting public employees’ salaries constitutes a legal and national crime, and calls on the government to abide by the provisions of Palestinian law and by its obligations to respect human rights.

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2023-03-20T18:01:32+03:00
ImportantMainPress newsPress Release

Date: 7 August 2019

Ref:  55  /2019

  

Press Release,

 ICSPR stresses that cutting public employees’ salaries constitutes a legal and national crime, and calls on the government to abide by the provisions of Palestinian law and by its obligations to respect human rights.

 

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights “ICSPR” follows with deep concern and condemnation the government measures taken at the beginning of each month to cut the salaries of many public servants and military personnel and the families of the martyrs, prisoners and wounded in Gaza Strip, where a number of employees from the above categories were surprised of cutting off their salaries and financial dues due to the government without giving any reasons when they tried to cash their salaries through the ATMs of banks deployed in the Gaza Strip governorates.

The information indicates that the Palestinian government recently -in the context of its punitive policies against the residents of the Gaza Strip- cut the salaries of many employees in July (We haven’t been able to know the exact details of this illegal action) starting from deducting and delaying the payment of their salaries, ending with the policy of cutting their salaries without a legal justification, which created a state of anger and discontent among them, especially that this step comes in light of the extremely difficult humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

ICSPR stresses the illegality of the cutting salary procedure, and reiterates its rejection of all government justifications for such a measure, as it carries an explicit violation of the Palestinian laws regulating the financial rights of government employees, and reaffirms that the salary that public servant receives, as well as the financial dues received by the families of martyrs, prisoners and wounded, are inherent rights owed by the Government, guaranteed by the Palestinian Basic Law and other relevant laws. Therefore, ICSPR demands the following:

  • ICSPR stresses that the Government’s continued implementation of the policy of cutting salaries has contributed to impoverishment of employees and vulnerable segments of society, in light of the growing rates of food insecurity of families in Gaza Strip, and therefore it renews its demand to the Palestinian government to immediately reverse this shameful policy.
  • ICSPR warns of the consequences of the collective sanctions imposed on Gaza Strip, especially in light of the current circumstances in which the government uses public money for political reprisals.
  • ICSPR emphasizes that the decisions to cut the salaries of employees and the families of martyrs, prisoners and wounded, lacks the pillars of the administrative decision in terms of generality, abstraction and causation, as it constitutes a distinction between employees on the basis of geography and political opinion and freedom of opinion and expression.
  • ICSPR calls upon all Palestinians to assume their legal and national responsibilities towards halting the state of political and humanitarian collapse, and to avoid citizens, services, rights and freedoms, the dangers of division and political conflict. It also demands to quickly end the division and achieve unity on the basis of national partnership.
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