Al-Haq presented a submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its 68th session, which will evaluate Israel’s sixth periodic report and its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The submission affirms Israel’s failure to abide by its legal obligations under the Convention by implementing laws and practices that contribute to the violation of women’s rights protected under CEDAW. These include: discriminatory citizenship and residency laws, restrictions on family unification, administrative home demolitions, as well as collective punishment measures such as punitive residency revocations and punitive home demolitions. These Israeli policies and practices have a severe and disproportionate impact on women and girls in the occupied West Bank, notably, in Area C and East Jerusalem, including on their rights to family life and relations, the right to participate in public and political life, and the right of women to an adequate standard of living.

In its conclusion, Al-Haq recalled Israel’s failure to adopt the recommendations set forth by the Committee in previous concluding observations. Al-Haq urged the committee to provide recommendations to Israel relevant to the violation of Palestinian women’s human rights, including:

- Taking all necessary measures to achieve compliance with all of its obligations under the Convention, and accordingly fulfil its legal obligations towards the protection of women in the OPT;

- Repealing the discriminatory Nationality and Entry into Israel Law;

- Suspending all collective punishment and punitive measures, including those with particular adverse impacts on the rights of women to family life and relations and to an adequate standard of living; and

- Suspending the discriminatory planning and zoning regime in Area C and East Jerusalem, which hinder women’s right to adequate living conditions.

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