* Adopted by the pre-sessional working group on 3 November 2023.

List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the seventh periodic report of Israel *

General

1.Please provide information and statistics, disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, disability, ethnicity, geographical location and socioeconomic background, on the current situation of women in the State party, to enable monitoring of the implementation of the Convention. In accordance with the State party’s obligations under articles 1 and 2 of the Convention, and in line with target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals, to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, please indicate how the State party intends to improve the collection and analysis of data pertaining to the areas covered by the Convention, so as to support policymaking and programme development and to measure progress towards the implementation of the Convention and the promotion of substantive equality between women and men, including with regard to the specific areas covered in the present document.

Women and girls in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem

2.Please provide comprehensive information on the implementation of the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, over which the State party exercises jurisdiction or effective control.

Upholding international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, in particular women and children

3.Please provide detailed information on specific measures taken by the State party to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law, including effectively investigating allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law by armed forces and non-State actors, and to stop the disproportionate use of force, including lethal force, against women and children and ensure that women and children affected by the ongoing armed conflict have effective access to protection from rights violations inflicted during the ongoing armed conflict. Please also provide information on steps taken to allow unhindered humanitarian assistance to the affected civilian population.

Women and peace and security

4.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that the policy plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security is fully implemented and integrates a gender perspective, including through the allocation of adequate human, technical and financial resources and enhanced cooperation with women from civil society organizations representing different backgrounds. Please also inform the Committee on steps taken to:

(a)Extend the application of the policy plan to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, over which the State party exercises jurisdiction or effective control;

(b)Establish a mechanism to recognize and maximize the role of women in finding a lasting solution for peace and promoting conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction efforts, and ensure the implementation of other transitional justice mechanisms, including reparations for women and children, in particular those affected by conflict-related sexual violence;

(c)Investigate, prosecute and adequately punish perpetrators of sexual violence in the Israeli security forces;

(d)Apply a policy of zero tolerance of sexual abuse and exploitation of women by security officials;

(e)Adopt and implement a comprehensive strategy to address conflict-related sexual violence in the context of the unprecedented attacks launched on 7 October 2023, given that they constitute alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and ensure that women who are victims of conflict-related sexual violence and children born of rape are protected from stigmatization, discrimination and exclusion and have access to adequate health care, psychosocial counselling, as well as sexual and reproductive and mental health services, in line with Security Council resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009).

Definition of equality and non-discrimination

5.Please provide information on legislative measures taken to adopt a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women that covers direct and indirect discrimination in the public and private spheres, in addition to intersecting forms of discrimination, in accordance with article 1 of the Convention. Please also inform the Committee on steps taken to adopt a comprehensive strategy to eliminate the systemic discrimination faced by women belonging to disadvantaged groups, in particular Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities. Please provide information on the measures that the State party is taking to effectively eliminate practices that exclude women from the public domain, particularly in ultra-Orthodox Jewish areas where there have been reports of gender segregation and exclusion. Please indicate whether any legislative initiatives or proposals are being considered by the State party that would permit gender segregation and exclusion and, if so, please also describe the potential impacts of these measures on women, including the possibility of further restrictions and exclusion from publicly funded events or public spaces.

Limitation of freedom of movement, segregation and exclusion of women in relation to public spaces and educational settings

6.Please provide information on measures taken to address limitations on the freedom of movement of women and gender-based segregation by some religious movements. Please also provide information on measures taken to eliminate segregation in all spheres, including public spaces and higher education.

Access to justice and reparations

7.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)The support provided to women and children who are victims of the unprecedented attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October 2023, given that they constitute alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including support provided to hostages and their families;

(b)The current state of collaboration with the International Criminal Court, in particular with regard to the ongoing investigation in case No. ICC-01/18;

(c)Measures taken to address all physical and economic barriers that impede access to justice for women, in particular Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, as well as asylum-seeking and migrant women;

(d)Measures taken to increase awareness among all women, including those who belong to disadvantaged groups, of their rights under the Convention;

(e)Measures taken to ensure that the Convention and related national legislation are made an integral part of the continuing legal education of the judiciary and all stakeholders in the legal profession;

(f)Measures taken to assess the impact of the guidelines adopted in 2016 by the Legal Aid Department on women’s access to legal aid, in particular with regard to family law matters, including child custody and maintenance cases.

National human rights institution

8.Please provide information on steps taken to establish an independent national human rights institution for the promotion and protection of human rights in line with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles).

National machinery for the advancement of women and gender mainstreaming

9.Please provide the Committee with a legal explanation elucidating the grounds and factors that precipitated the discontinuation of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women and describe the statutory roles and obligations of the Ministry for the Promotion of Women’s Status, which has been instituted as its successor. Please provide information on any evaluation of the implementation and coordination of the gender mainstreaming activities undertaken by the ministries following the publication of the duties of gender equality supervisors, which should include monitoring the progress by each ministry to ensure that activities financed from the State budget comply with set objectives and criteria for gender-responsive budgeting and imposing penalties in cases of non- compliance. Please also indicate measures taken to increase cooperation with civil society organizations, in particular women’s organizations, including those representing disadvantaged groups of women, such as Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities.

Temporary special measures

10.Please provide information on measures taken to increase the use of temporary special measures, including statutory quotas, in all areas covered by the Convention in which women, in particular Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, are underrepresented or disadvantaged, including in political and public life, where they are underrepresented on regional councils, as well as in decision-making positions in higher education.

Stereotypes and harmful practices

11.Please provide information on specific measures taken to:

(a)Adopt a comprehensive strategy, and a mechanism for monitoring the strategy, to eliminate discriminatory stereotypes with regard to the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society;

(b)Expand public education and other programmes to eliminate stereotypes and stigma with regard to women who have children out of wedlock in traditional communities;

(c)Eliminate polygamous marriage, in particular among Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, and underage marriage, in Jewish and Muslim communities.

Gender-based violence against women

12.Please report on the number of cases, prosecutions and convictions of gender-based violence against women and the sentences imposed on perpetrators. In the light of general recommendation No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations, please provide detailed information on measures takento:

(a)Effectively investigate, prosecute and adequately sentence perpetrators of gender-based violence against women;

(b)Criminalize all forms of gender-based violence against women, including domestic violence, by incorporating a comprehensive definition of domestic violence into the 1991 Prevention of Domestic Violence Law;

(c)Address the potential increase in domestic violence in the State party during times of crisis, including the ongoing armed conflict, as well as the reported rise in domestic violence cases during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in particular in the light of its economic impact, school closures, women’s increased exposure to gender-based violence and the potential trauma experienced by Israel Defense Forces veterans;

(d)Ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence;

(e)Apply a policy of zero tolerance in cases of sexual harassment of women and girls;

(f)Prevent cases of gender-based violence against women and girls in detention, psychiatric hospitals, centres for persons with disabilities and juvenile justice institutions, and ensure that all types of institutions are supervised by independent authorities;

(g)Provide accessible information to women with disabilities about available remedies and redress in cases of gender-based violence against them;

(h)Prevent and protect women journalists, women activists and women politicians in view of the increasing number of cases of gender-based violence;

(i)Provide capacity-building on women’s rights and gender equality for judges, prosecutors, lawyers and police officers and on gender-sensitive investigation and interrogation methods in cases of gender-based violence and discrimination against women;

(j)Address gender-based violence against Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, in particular femicide and domestic violence, and ensure that such acts are effectively investigated and prosecuted and that the perpetrators are adequately sentenced;

(k)Assess the impact of the proposed lower requirements for civilian firearm ownership and the difficulties for law enforcement and other relevant authorities to oversee firearm possession without implementing mental health or domestic abuse background checks.

Gender-based violence against and harassment of women and children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and restrictions on their freedom of movement

13.Please provide detailed information on specific measures taken to:

(a)Protect women and children, in particular in the context of armed conflict;

(b)Combat impunity for human rights violations and ensure that victims can safely participate as witnesses and have access to effective remedies;

(c)Protect women and children from death and bodily harm and put an end to all human rights abuses and violations, including settler violence, perpetrated against women and children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, in particular the West Bank;

(d)Remove disproportionate restrictions on the freedom of movement of Israeli and Palestinian women;

(e)Ensure that Palestinian women and children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have access to education, professional training and health services;

(f)End the arbitrary arrest and detention of Palestinian women and children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and ensure their right to a fair trial;

(g)Implement the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) in detention facilities for Palestinian women and girls in the State party.

Forced evictions and house demolitions

14.Please inform the Committee on measures taken to:

(a)Put an end to punitive demolitions and forced evictions, which are illegal under international human rights law and have a harmful impact on the physical and psychological well-being of Palestinian women and children who are citizens of Israel and Palestinian women and children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem;

(b)Cease the implementation of eviction and demolition orders that are based on discriminatory planning and zoning policies;

(c)Revise the discriminatory policy of revoking housing permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as regions inhabited by Palestinian women and children who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, in the State party.

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

15.Please provide information on the extent of exploitation of women in prostitution in the State party and on the mechanisms in place to identify victims of trafficking for purposes of sexual or labour exploitation in the care and agricultural sector, in particular among migrant workers. Please indicate whether the State party has allocated adequate human, technical and financial resources for the early identification and referral of victims of trafficking, in particular women and girls, to the appropriate services. Please also inform the Committee on steps taken to:

(a)Strengthen coordination between the entities responsible for monitoring the implementation of laws and policies aimed at combating trafficking and exploitation of women in prostitution;

(b)Enhance bilateral, regional and international cooperation to prevent trafficking, including by exchanging information and harmonizing legal procedures to prosecute perpetrators;

(c)Provide exit programmes, including alternative income opportunities, to women wishing to leave prostitution.

Participation in political and public life

16.Please provide updated statistical data on the participation of women in political and public life at the national and local levels, in particular in decision-making positions, as well as on specific training on leadership skills and political campaigning for women and girls. Please also provide information on:

(a)Campaigns to raise awareness among politicians, the media, teachers, community leaders and the general public about the importance of the participation of women in decision-making at all levels;

(b)Targeted measures, including temporary special measures, such as statutory quotas, taken to accelerate the representation of women, including Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel and women from the Bedouin communities, in parliament, the judiciary, the military and in ministerial, foreign service and senior academic positions;

(c)Measures taken to initiate consultations with relevant stakeholders on introducing reforms regarding the participation of women as rabbinical judges;

(d)Measures taken to increase women’s representation in all governmental forums and ensure that the consequences, needs and requirements of women, in particular in the context of the ongoing armed conflict, are taken into account, particularly in the light of government resolution No. 1845 (2022), which emphasized the need for gender-responsive decision-making, and government resolution No. 4631 (2019), which endorsed the Sustainable Development Goals;

(e)Steps taken to adopt legislation to introduce incentives for political parties to nominate an equal number of women and men, of equal ranks, on electoral lists for national, regional and municipal elections, as well as fines in cases of non-compliance.

Women human rights defenders and non-governmental organizations

17.In the light of reports of the persistently shrinking civic space, please provide information on steps taken to create an enabling environment in which women human rights defenders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on women’s human rights and gender equality may freely conduct, without undue restrictions, their activities, including raising funds from foreign sources. Please provide information on measures taken to protect women human rights defenders and NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and review the State party’s military order to suspend and close several Palestinian NGOs in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in particular those working on women’s rights and gender equality. Please also provide information on measures taken to discontinue arbitrary detention, disproportionate restrictions and penalties imposed on women human rights defenders and their organizations for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.

Nationality and family reunification

18.Please provide information on measures taken to facilitate family reunification and amend the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order), which precludes Palestinian women from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, who are married to Palestinian citizens of Israel from obtaining Israeli citizenship or residence permits, and government resolution No. 3598 of June 2008, which bans family unification with individuals residing or registered in the Gaza Strip, to ensure that they comply with articles 9 and 16 of the Convention. Please provide information on the lack of processing of family reunification applications or requests for address changes by Palestinians, including women, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip since 2000.

Education

19.Please provide information on measures taken to:

(a)Improve education outcomes among Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, and ultra-Orthodox women and girls;

(b)Address the underrepresentation of women, in particular Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, Jewish women of Eastern European origin and women with disabilities, in high-level academic positions;

(c)Review textbooks used in the education system to identify and remove discriminatory stereotypes;

(d)Ensure access to all levels of education for children and women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem;

(e)Investigate and prosecute cases of bullying, sexual violence and sexual harassment against girls and women at all levels of education and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and adequately punished.

Employment

20.Please describe how the ongoing armed conflict could widen gender pay gaps, in particular as many women are compelled to remain at home with their children due to the partial or full closure of schools. Please provide information on the measures in place to protect women from unfair dismissal. Please also provide detailed information on women’s access to loans and other forms of financial credit and on measures taken to promote women’s entrepreneurship and women’s and girls’ use of digital technology. Please describe the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic concerning women’s economic security in the context of implementing gender-responsive social protection measures. Please also describe the measures that the State party is taking to compensate women workers for economic losses caused by the ongoing armed conflict. Please also update the Committee on specific measures taken to:

(a)Ensure equal opportunities for women in the labour market, in particular for women heads of household;

(b)Reduce the gender pay gap by enforcing the principle of equal pay for work of equal value;

(c)Ensure access by Palestinian women from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, to employment in the State party, including in the context of the ongoing armed conflict;

(d)Promote women’s participation in the development of digital technology;

(e)Strengthen the participation of Bedouin and ultra-Orthodox women in the labour market and remove barriers faced by Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel to access to employment;

(f)Intensify efforts to combat sexual harassment in the workplace, in particular in the Israel Defense Forces.

Health

21.Please provide information on the steps taken to design appropriate interventions and action plans to address discrimination in the health sector, in particular against women and girls of Ethiopian descent. Please also provide information on measures taken to improve the health status of Palestinian women and girls who are citizens of Israel, including women from the Bedouin communities, in particular with regard to obesity, lung cancer and infant and maternal mortality. Please describe the measures taken by the State party to ensure that Palestinian women and girls from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, have access to the necessary emergency health and medical services, including pregnancy and maternal health care, given the ongoing armed conflict. Please also provide information on the measures taken by the State party to ensure that Palestinian women and girls from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, in family reunification situations have access to adequate health services under the existing health regulations. Please provide information on measures taken to raise awareness about modern forms of contraception and ensure that affordable access to modern contraceptives is available for women and adolescent girls, in particular in rural and remote areas. Please indicate the measures that have been taken to ensure that the administrative procedures for obtaining approval for an abortion from the Termination of Pregnancy Committee do not hinder the access of women and girls to safe abortion services.

Disadvantaged groups of women and girls

22.Please provide information on intersecting forms of discrimination faced by disadvantaged groups of women and girls in the State party, in particular:

(a)Migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls. Please indicate the measures taken to repeal the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Infiltration (Offences and Jurisdiction) Law, in order to facilitate the processing of claims by asylum-seeking women and ensure that they have access to essential services. Please also provide information on measures taken to ensure that asylum-seeking women, in particular those who have been staying in the State party for a long time, such as asylum-seeking women from Eritrea and the Sudan, are able to regularize their status and have adequate access to social protection.

(b)Women in detention. Please provide information on measures taken to discontinue the practice of prolonged administrative detention and forcible transfers of women and girls from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, to places of detention in the State party, and to ensure that those who have been forcibly transferred are promptly brought before a judge to decide on the lawfulness of their detention. Please also provide information on specific measures taken to improve detention conditions and ensure that women in detention have access to adequate health services.

(c)Women and girls from the Bedouin communities. Please describe the measures taken by the State party to provide women and girls from the Bedouin communities with shelter in the context of armed conflict and reparations, including compensation, for the destruction of their homes, and to ensure that they have access to food, education, employment, modern technology, health care, loans and other forms of financial credit and social protection.

(d)Rural women. In the light of the Committee’s general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women, please indicate the measures taken to improve access for rural women and girls to justice, land ownership and control, adequate water, education, including literacy programmes and professional training, formal employment, health care, including sexual and reproductive health services and family planning, financial credit and social protection.

(e)Women and girls with disabilities. Please indicate the measures taken to ensure that women and girls with disabilities have access to inclusive education, employment, health care and accessible housing, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, in particular the Gaza Strip, particularly in the context of the ongoing armed conflict.

Climate change and disaster risk reduction

23.Please describe steps taken to integrate a gender perspective into national policies on climate change, in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. Please also indicate any measures taken to ensure the effective participation of women in decision-making processes on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and land and environmental resource management, including the necessary allocation of resources.

Marriage and family relations

24.Please inform the Committee about steps taken to repeal discriminatory provisions that grant men the unilateral power to consent to a divorce (get). In particular, please describe the steps that have been taken to ensure equal rights and access to justice for women in the case of “get refusal”, whereby a man refuses to grant a religious divorce. Please indicate the measures taken to harmonize family law to ensure that civil laws take precedence over religious laws, in particular in the areas of marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. Please provide information on the steps taken to ensure that all women have the free choice to contract a civil marriage and to divorce in civil courts, including when civil marriages are contracted outside the State party. Please indicate whether women have access to affordable and, if necessary, free legal aid in proceedings before rabbinical and other religious courts, and describe the measures taken to harmonize religious laws governing marriage and divorce with the Convention, enforce the prohibition of bigamy and polygamy, and repeal provisions allowing for the retroactive cancellation of a divorce. Please explain the main rationale behind the State party’s general restriction on the granting of citizenship or long-term legal status to individuals from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, who marry State party citizens and residents, with only a few specified exceptions. Please provide information on steps taken to undertake a study to assess the impact of the erosion of the “tender years” clause, contained in the 1962 Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, and the introduction of joint child custody on the increase in the number of custody disputes, the increased level of poverty experienced by female-headed households and the use of joint custody, or the threat of such use, as a tool applied by men to extort concessions from women.

Additional information

25.Please provide any additional information deemed relevant with regard to legislative, policy, administrative and other measures taken to implement the provisions of the Convention and the Committee’s concluding observations since the consideration of the previous periodic report (CEDAW/C/ISR/6) in 2017. Such measures may include recent laws, developments, plans, programmes and ratifications of human rights instruments, as well as any other information that the State party considers relevant. Please note that, further to the issues raised in the present document, the State party will be expected, during the dialogue, to respond to additional questions relating to areas covered by the Convention.