Ref: 71/2021

Date: 24 May 2021

Time: 13:30 GMT

Today, the Palestinian security services in northern Gaza Strip found the body of 16-year-old Wesam al-Jarjir. It is estimated that she has been dead for at least 15 days; he body was sent for examination by the Forensic Medical Department at al-Shifa Medical Complex, Gaza.

According to PCHR investigations, at approximately 17:00 on Sunday, 23 May 2021, security services found the dead body of Wesam Khaled Safwat al-Jarjir (16), who was reported missing 15 days ago, buried in a sub-street of al-Qasaseeb area in Jabalia, close to her home.

The security services summonsed a number of suspects, including her father, Khaled Safwat Mohammed al-Jarjir (36); they investigated with him and he admitted to killing his daughter. He confessed that he tortured her and beat her with a plastic chair, and that he buried her.

According to the statement of the security services, al-Jarjir is known to be a repeat domestic violence offender against all his children. The Forensic Science Department stated that the cause of death cannot be identified because the body had decomposed.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the murder of al-Jarjir and stresses that tolerance towards domestic violence practices against children and women contributes to the recurrence of such heinous crimes.

PCHR reaffirms that the protection of children from domestic violence is within the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child that Palestine acceded to in 2014; and stresses that tolerance with domestic violence practices against children and women contributes to the recurrence of such heinous crimes that threaten the social fabric of Palestinian society.

PCHR calls for exerting more efforts by the police and the public prosecution to prosecute perpetrators of domestic violence crimes and take all necessary legal measures against them without regard to any excuses or justifications.

PCHR calls upon the Palestinian President to adopt Domestic Violence Protection Bill into law and to harmonize domestic laws with international conventions, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).