Solid waste is mounting throughout Gaza's neighborhoods and streets warning of a serious deterioration of the already exacerbated public health situation.
People are tending to burn trash as the only way to get rid of it.
Levels of air pollution have increased in the Gaza Strip as a result.
These are some of the consequences of the continued strike initiated by employees of the four main municipalities in the Gaza Strip, which was sparked by the failure of the municipalities and PNA to pay their salaries for a long time.
This is not the first strike these workers have commenced.
(For further information, review Al Mezan's press releases at http://www.
mezan.
org/site_en/press_room/press_detail.
php?id=605 ) Further, a stay-in strike was commenced at a tent near the Legislative Council (PLC) in Gaza city on 14 April 2007.
Workers threatened to fully suspend work in water and sewage facilities in an escalation of their strike if their demands are not met.
The towns and villages of the Gaza Strip thus face an unprecedented deterioration of public health.
The environment is exposed to serious damages; some of which might be irreversible in the short term, notably following the collapse of sewage water basins in the Bedouin village and the widely spread burning of solid waste.
These risks jeopardize various basic human rights; including the right to health, housing, water and clean environment in the Gaza Strip.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights renews its solidarity with employees at local authorities, who have an authentic right to strike and protest injustice.
The Center especially supports their protest of discrimination against them, which emanates from the unequal treatment they receive in comparison with other civil servants.
The latter have received more payments and other benefits over the past months.
Al Mezan warns the PNA from the consequences of ignoring their demands for long, which might create a serious threat to human rights and public health.
The Center calls upon the Ministry of Local Government (MLG) to take effective steps that would guarantee equal treatment of civil servants and municipalities' workers during the financial crisis the PNA suffers.
The MLG should provide sustainable solutions to these problems.
It also should take measures to improve the collection of municipal taxes; at least from those who sustained their employment during the Intifada.
END