Migrant Workers in Israel: Towards Proposing a Framework of Enforceable Customary International Human Rights

Abstract

Upholding the human rights of migrant workers raises a host of legal problems for a State that desires cheap foreign labour. Israel has reaped the benefits of such labour without incurring any significant responsibility to these exploited workers. Yet, their growing presence in Israel is beginning to raise legal and social concerns given the small size of the State and its rising unemployment. Similar to other States with migrant workers, attempting to carve out legal protections for migrant workers in Israel proves quite difficult in the absence of any formal legislation. This article begins to identify various legal sources that can serve as a framework for explicating the emerging customary human rights of migrant workers. Such customary human rights can be derived from unincorporated treaties and conventions and from the domestic laws and judicial decisions of the State.