Supreme Court Rules that State Must Open and Operate Secure Shelter for Young Arab Women at Risk by 1 January 2006
During a hearing held on 21 September 2005, the Supreme Court of Israel complied with Adalah's demand to deliver a final decision on a petition submitted in October 2003, and ordered the state to open and operate a secure shelter for young Arab women at risk by 1 January 2006.
In its judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that: “The decision comes after a long period during which the issue has been pending before the Court without being decided upon finally,” adding that, “during this period a great deal correspondence passed between the two parties to indicate the preparedness of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MLSA) to open the shelter for vulnerable young Arab women, and even that it – the Ministry – submitted a detailed timetable to the Court regarding the opening of the shelter. However, despite this and for various reasons, the MLSA has presented to the Court on each occasions, new obstacles preventing the opening of the shelter.” The Supreme Court also imposed a fine on the MLSA in the sum of NIS 15,000 for legal fees.
The petition was submitted by Adalah Attorney Gadeer Nicola on behalf of three feminist organizations: Women Against Violence, Assiwar - The Palestinian Feminist Center in Support of Victims of Sexual Abuse, and Kayan Feminist Organization, asking the Court to compel the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs to immediately open a suitable shelter.
Representing the petitioners before the Court at the hearing, Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher argued that the Arab community has lacked a secure shelter to accommodate young Arab women at risk for over two years. In contrast, the Israeli Jewish community has several frameworks for young men and women suffering from similar problems. Adalah further argued that the MLSA has repeatedly postponed the opening of the shelter for various reasons, which has greatly harmed the young women in need of its protection and exposed their lives to danger, in the absence of any framework of support and guidance.
In its initial response to the petition, the MLSA committed to work to establish a “secured shelter” for young Arab women in the north of the country by the middle of 2004. However, the Ministry failed to fulfill its commitment, repeatedly submitting illogical explanations to the Court for its delays in opening a secured shelter for young Arab women.
A “secured shelter” is a framework for the education and care of young men and women under the age of eighteen from one of the following groups: young offenders and young people at risk. The aim of opening of a “secured shelter” is to assist young men and women to adjust to life in the future, by providing remedial, educational and social services geared towards keeping them, at this sensitive age, away from the conditions threatening their natural development, including violence, neglect, destitution, and exposure to an unsafe environment.
The petition was submitted following the MLSA's closure at the end of May 2003 of the "Ma'on Hagalil" shelter in Akka, which was the only state-funded secured shelter serving young Arab women at risk. The Minister did not initiate a comparable service option to meet the needs of young Arab women, leaving many of the shelter's residents with nowhere to go.
In the petition, Adalah demanded the application of the law in this instance, which obliges the state to provide the framework of secured shelters in the Arab and Jewish sectors equally. Under Israeli law, the courts are authorized to place young men or women in a secured shelter as an alternative to imprisonment, as a means of protecting them and keeping them away from an environment which is detrimental to their development. The lack of this alternative violates the right of young Arab women to equality, particularly since it is available to young Jewish women, young Jewish men and young Arab men. The failure to provide this framework immediately constitutes a danger to the lives of many young Arab women.
H.C. 9111/03, Women Against Violence, et. al. v. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.
