The Bedouin Arab minority in the Negev is one of the most discriminated against groups within the Arab community and Israeli society as a whole. More than half of the roughly 160,000 Negev Bedouins remain in unrecognized communities, which the state refuses to develop and bring under municipal administration. The government employs a number of tactics to coerce Bedouins into shifting to metropolitan places that disrespect their way of life and requirements. Communities as a whole have been handed demolition orders, while others are compelled to continue living in unrecognized settlements without access to power and running water.

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ACRI works to preserve the rights of the Negev Bedouin by pushing village status as a method of removing the continual fear of destruction and evacuation, as well as by starting to improve living circumstances and access to state resources. In addition, ACRI opposes the establishment of new and existing settlements on land inhabited by citizens of unrecognized villages.