Unemployed workers launch the Global Call for Action against Poverty (GCAP) campaign 2006 in Palestine
On September 6, 2006, the GCAP campaign 2006 was launched in Palestine by a “Stand Up Against Poverty” demonstration organized with unemployed workers in Ramallah, West Bank.
Stand Up Against Poverty!
Seven Palestinian families out of ten are living under the poverty line
On September 6, 2006, 6 years after the opening session of the United Nations Millennium Summit during which world leaders adopted the “United Nations Millennium Declaration”, hundreds of unemployed workers from all over the West Bank demonstrated in Ramallah and Al-Bireh in response to the call from the National Coalition for the Global Call for Action against Poverty – Palestine, the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center in Palestine & the Unemployed Workers’ Committees Federation to Stand Up Against Poverty.
The demonstration, which marks the launch of the Palestine campaign ahead of the international mobilization month, was preceded by an opening ceremony during which addresses were made by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas through his spokesman Mr. Saleh Rafat - General Secretary of Feda, the Minister of Labor, Mr. Mohammed Barghouthi, a representative of the National and Islamic forces and PLC member, Mr. Queis Abdel Karim, a representative of the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center and a representative of the Unemployed Workers’ Committees Federation, Mr. Mufid Hassan Abu Baker.
Because of the on-going Israeli military occupation and the lack of control over water, natural resources and borders, Palestinians have not been able to engage in a development process. While other countries might be progressing towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals since 2000, we have been witnessing a serious setback due to the siege and closures, Apartheid Wall, occupation policies and military operations of the Israeli Occupying Power and more recently due to the financial boycott of the Palestinian Authority by Israel and most foreign donor countries. Nowadays, seven Palestinian families out of ten are living under the poverty line - the poverty rate reached 65.8% during the second quarter of 2006- and there are 197,000 unemployed workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 49% have been unemployed for more than a year and 32% for more than 2 years. In the absence of institutionalized protection from unemployment, the unemployed have no income at all while they have little or no hope to find jobs. Moreover, the incapacity of the Palestinian Authority to pay the monthly salaries of its 154,000 employees for the past 6 months has affected 51.6% of the Palestinian families.
The demonstrators called for an immediate resumption of full financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people and asked the Palestinian Authority to ensure their right to work and protection from unemployment. On Ramallah’s central square, they created a human chain to symbolize that we need to overcome our differences and work together, people and national decision-makers, with the support of the international community in order to fight poverty and unemployment in the Palestinian territories.
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For more information: contact Dr. Hamdi Al-Khawaja, the Palestine campaign coordinator, at programs@dwrc.org
or Tel: 00 972 2 295 2608-extension 103
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