Palestinian Labour Rights Observatory
Who are we?
The Palestinian Labour Rights Observatory is a specialised institutional unit within the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions. It was established as a professional trade union mechanism to monitor, document and analyse workers’ conditions and the violations they face, improving their access to protection and redress and their ability to defend their rights.
Its integrated system receives complaints, consultations and reports, documents and verifies them, and handles referrals and follow-up. It also manages and analyses data, producing reports, indicators, studies, policy briefs and tools for advocacy, social dialogue and collective bargaining.
What does the Palestinian Labour Rights Observatory do?
Receiving complaints and reports
The Observatory offers a safe access point for workers to submit complaints, consultations and reports about working conditions or labour rights violations. It records cases and available documents, provides initial guidance on possible steps and pathways, and follows cases under established procedures that protect confidentiality and privacy.
Monitoring and documenting violations
The Observatory monitors, documents and classifies violations across sectors and locations by type, sector, worker group and severity. It verifies information against clear professional standards to ensure accuracy and credibility, turning documented cases into evidence of Palestinian working conditions.
Referral and access to justice
Each case is assessed to identify the best legal, trade union, official, mediation or social dialogue pathway. Cases needing specialised legal intervention are referred to the legal clinic or competent body, while the Observatory continues monitoring their progress and outcomes.
Data and knowledge
The Observatory builds a secure, reliable labour database from complaints, reports and field monitoring. It turns these data into indicators, reports, studies and policy briefs to understand violation patterns and workers’ challenges and support evidence-based decisions and interventions.
Labour rights awareness
The Observatory improves workers’ understanding of their rights and explains legal and trade union protection pathways in clear, accessible language. It develops awareness materials and practical guides and builds the capacity of union staff and focal points in rights, monitoring, documentation and data protection.
Advocacy and influence
The Observatory uses data and documented cases to highlight workers’ issues and defend their rights nationally and internationally. Monitoring and analysis support union action, social dialogue and collective bargaining, and contribute to policies, laws and practices advancing decent work and social justice.
What does the Observatory do?
From complaints to knowledge and change
The Observatory goes beyond recording violations, turning individual cases and field data into knowledge and evidence to protect workers’ rights, guide union and legal interventions, strengthen advocacy and social dialogue, and inform policy.
How the Observatory works
Working principles
Confidentiality and data protection
The Observatory protects workers’ information and securely stores complaints and reports. Information is used or shared only under approved professional procedures that preserve privacy.
Accuracy and verification
The Observatory verifies available information and documents before recording or using cases, following professional standards for accurate data and objective reports and outputs.
Evidence-based advocacy
The Observatory uses data and documented cases to highlight workers’ issues and defend their rights. This evidence supports social dialogue and policies and legislation that advance decent work and social justice.
Professionalism and objectivity
The Observatory follows professional, objective and impartial standards in monitoring, documentation and analysis, providing reliable information that accurately reflects workers’ realities.