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2 years after it was defined as "modern slavery" and repealed by the High Court of Justice, the binding policy continues On July 30, 2008 six Human rights organizations - Kav LaOved (Worker's Hotline), Hotline for Migrant Workers, The Association for Civil Right in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights, ADVA Center and the Commitment to Peace and Social Justice Association- filed a contempt of court request, demanding the state to follow the 2006 ruling of the High Court of Justice with regard to the policy which binds migrant workers to their employers and violates their basic human rights. On March 30, 2006 the High Court of Justice repealed the binding policy, which makes the migrant worker�s visa valid only for a single employer, whether in agriculture, care-giving, or light industry. As a result of this policy, any migrant worker who leaves his work because of poor conditions or salary, or else is transferred from one employer to another (a common policy among employers, which usually occurs without the worker knowing that he is in breach of his work conditions), immediately becomes a criminal, an illegal resident who can be deported from the country. In its ruling, the Court stated that the binding policy unduly violates the worker�s basic rights, and especially, the right to dignity, freedom, and autonomy. They emphasized that this policy undermines the acceptable balance of power and respect between worker and employer, and deprives the worker of his ability to bargain. Judge Heshin added that �there�s no avoiding the conclusion-a particularly embarrassing and painful one-that the migrant worker is the indentured servant of his employer; because the binding policy created a kind of modern version of slavery. The Court's ruling gave the state six months to devise a new employment system. Two years and four months have passed since the Court repealed the binding policy, yet the government continues as if nothing happened. Despite the Court's ruling, the Ministry of the Interior's regulations with regard to the employment of foreign workers did not change. Migrant workers who leave their work or are transferred from one employer to another are still put in detention, become �illegal� and can immediately be deported. The request we filed states the severe violation of law and migrant workers' rights, which is the consequence of the ongoing contempt of the Court's ruling. Our request was concluded with the following: "The Court's ruling in the matter of the binding policy is one of the most fundamental issues determined by the High Court of Justice in recent years. One can wonder why these issues still require Court ruling in Israel of today. It is hard to believe that the Court is forced to explain to the state that migrant workers who leave their work place are not to be detained, persecuted, or deported. Moreover, even in our days, the Court still needs to clarify that there is no reasonable justification to force a person to unwillingly work in the service of another person�" The ruling of the High Court of Justice aimed to abolish a shameful practice that the state refuses to end. Migrant workers who are held in detention facilities just because they attempt to realize their right to demand their salary are a testimony to the moral malfunction that the Court wished to amend. One who witnesses the shameful sight of employers who come to detention facilities to recruit workers can not escape historical comparisons and wonder what makes this case an exception. Anyone who hears the stories of these individuals about the hardships they had to suffer in order to come to Israel and work and how they ended up imprisoned and deported, cannot help but wonder how this policy could still exist uninterruptedly in 2008, over two years after the Court ruled to repeal it.
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