On 17 October 2012, people around the world celebrate the International Day for Eradication of Poverty.
It is an opportunity to shed the light on the poverty suffering and need that prevent people from enjoying their human rights.
This pushes towards exerting more efforts to decrease poverty, particularly in developing countries.
This year’s event theme is 'Ending the Violence of Extreme Poverty: Promoting Empowerment and Building Peace'.
  This occasion comes this year amidst ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza Strip and the deterioration of its negative impacts on the living situation, and the prevail of unemployment and poverty.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 122,60 unemployed persons about 31.
6%.
   UN figures show that %85 of Gazan families depend on aids provided by humanitarian organizations.
The delay in paying salaries for governmental employees due to the financial crisis has negative impact of the living situations of the employees and their families and on the economic situation in general.
Poverty contributes in deteriorating human rights situation, particularly women and children’s rights as well as other marginalized groups.
Poverty forms serious threats that impede their rights to appropriate food, healthcare, adequate housing, and other basic services.
Poverty hinders any development opportunity to develop human rights situation.
  Israeli systematic and gross violations contribute in deteriorating human rights situation in the Gaza Strip.
It also increases the number of poor people as Israeli soldiers kill the bread winner of the families.
Israeli home demolition, the forcible displacement of Palestinians, and the destruction of thousands donums of agricultural lands cause the loose of the source of income for Palestinian families.
This exacerbates poverty in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the sieged Gaza Strip.
     In this occasion the AL Mezan Center for Human Rights asserts the failure of the international community to uphold its legal and moral obligations towards Palestinian people in the oPt has encouraged Israeli to commit more systematic and grave violations that have negative impacts on the Palestinian people including poverty.
Therefore, Al Mezans calls on: International community to eradicate causes of poverty in the oPt by providing protection for Palestinians, ending Israeli violations of human rights, purse perpetrators of violations in order to end the Israeli occupation to the Palestinian territory; International community to work seriously towards exerting pressure on Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and to uphold its responsibility towards its people under international law; Supporting development plans in the oPt and development efforts to improve economic situations of civilians; and  Palestinian government and civil society forces to enhance national efforts to support poor families, limit the minimum wages in a way that consider the high cost of living, and provide protection for poor and marginalized groups through ratifying social security law.
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