Executive Summary:

PWWSD, through this report, would like to highlight the status of some issues raised by your esteemed committee in response to the State of Palestine report. Taking into consideration that the economic circumstances of women in Palestine are facing currently terrible deterioration, PWWSD would like to comment on some issues related to economic rights in the list of issues submitted by your esteemed committee to the state party. PWWSD believes in the significance of all the issues raised in the list of issues, but will limit its comments to some specific issues believing that they are the most important.  

Although the State of Palestine acceded to the Covenant 9 years ago, but it had not been published in the official gazette yet. The Covenant had not been utilized by the Palestinian Judiciary Authority as a reference for litigation. There is reluctance from the executive authority to publish the Covenant and harmonize the applied laws. PWWSD is aware that the decision regarding localizing the Covenant in the local legal set is the responsibility of the Legislative Institution (Palestinian Legislative Council) that has been paralyzed since the year 2007. All the International Conventions and Treaties to which the State of Palestine had acceded since the year 2004, are still dangling waiting for a Parliamentarian Decision to localize them with the applied legal set. Therefore, the executive authority should declare a clear date for the public elections (Parliamentarian and Presidency) to ensure the smooth localization of the conventions and treaties. The abstaining from conducting the public elections in itself represents a violation of the commitments of the state party under international conventions and treaties.  Additionally, it violates the Palestinian Basic Law (Constitution) and the other tools of the social contract that connect the Palestinian community.