The World Day of Social Justice – 20 February 2026
On the World Day of Social Justice 2026, we reaffirm our commitment to the principles of equity, dignity, and decent work for all workers. While the international community marks this day by promoting social justice and equality, Palestinian workers continue to face exceptionally harsh realities that undermine their fundamental labor and human rights.
Today, Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are experiencing unprecedented economic and social challenges. The destruction of economic infrastructure, restrictions on movement, and the deterioration of productive sectors have significantly limited employment opportunities and deepened poverty levels across Palestine.
Recent data issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicates continued pressure on living conditions, including rising consumer prices and declining purchasing power, particularly in the Gaza Strip. These indicators reflect not only economic hardship, but also the erosion of workers’ ability to secure basic living requirements for themselves and their families.
Furthermore, joint assessments by the International Labour Organization and Palestinian statistical institutions highlight the severe structural damage to the labor market, including massive job losses and historically high unemployment rates. The disruption of economic activity and restrictions affecting access to workplaces have further weakened economic resilience and increased food and employment insecurity.
On this international day, we call on the global community, labor movements, and international institutions to intensify efforts to protect Palestinian workers’ rights, support economic recovery, and ensure respect for international labor standards. Social justice cannot be achieved while workers are denied safe working conditions, stable income, and social protection.
We reaffirm that achieving social justice requires guaranteeing the right to decent work, strengthening social protection systems, and ensuring fair access to economic opportunities for all workers, without exception.
In this context, the stark disparity in opportunities available to women and youth becomes increasingly evident, as they face the most complex challenges under the current crisis. Data indicate that most women (approximately 67.8%) have found themselves outside the labor force and engaged in unpaid domestic work as a result of the loss of decent work opportunities and the collapse of supporting economic sectors. These realities place the international community before a difficult truth: social justice in Palestine will not be achieved through promises alone, but through ending occupation, lifting the blockade, rebuilding what has been destroyed by war, and guaranteeing the right of every worker, male and female, to a dignified and secure life free from policies of deprivation and exclusion.
The social justice advocated globally today represents a real moral test in Palestine, where basic rights are being eroded under conditions that have severely weakened the resilience of Palestinian society and its productive system. This collapse is not merely an economic fluctuation, but rather a direct result of prolonged restrictions and systematic destruction, which has pushed thousands of working families below extreme poverty lines and transformed the right to work into a means of survival only.
Workers in the Gaza Strip have shifted from being productive contributors to development into displaced populations searching for minimum levels of safety amid the rubble of factories, workshops, and fully destroyed economic facilities. The targeting of the work environment in Gaza has effectively undermined economic sustainability and increased dependence on humanitarian assistance, while unemployment rates approach levels reflecting near-total paralysis of formal economic life due to widespread infrastructure destruction.
In parallel, workers in the West Bank are facing severe hardship due to movement restrictions and fragmentation of economic activity. Data from the fourth quarter of 2025 shows a sharp deterioration in employment indicators as workers are prevented from accessing workplaces and major projects have come to a halt. This situation has created widespread financial and social insecurity and has resulted in large-scale layoffs, leaving workers facing an uncertain future in the absence of adequate social protection systems capable of absorbing such shocks.
At Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), we affirm that combating poverty and ensuring dignified living conditions begins with empowering Palestinian workers to access their land and work free from coercive and punitive restrictions. Eliminating poverty is not an act of charity; it is a national and international obligation that requires the immediate lifting of restrictions and ensuring dignified income for Palestinian families, while guaranteeing the full participation of women and youth in economic life.
Access to essential services, including education, healthcare, and social welfare, remains the cornerstone of preserving the cohesion of Palestinian society. The destruction of these sectors represents a compounded violation against future generations. Accordingly, we call for an urgent international initiative to rebuild the health and education systems, provide comprehensive health insurance coverage for all workers, and guarantee workers’ rights to a safe and fair working environment consistent with their sacrifices.
In conclusion, despite destruction and ongoing hardship, Palestinian workers will remain the cornerstone of national resilience, recovery, and reconstruction. On this day, we address all trade union movements and international organizations: social justice in Palestine is a key pillar for global stability and peace, and it cannot be achieved while Palestinian workers continue to face deprivation and instability.
Long live the fight of the Palestinian working class.
Glory and eternal remembrance to our martyrs.
Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions
