Ref: 146/2022
Date: 25 November 2022
Time: 10:00 GMT
On the 25th of November of each year, we celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and it marks the first day of the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which lasts until 10 December. This campaign, led by the United Nations Secretary-General and UN Women since 2008, aims to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls all over the world, take global action to raise awareness on the campaign’s goal and provide opportunities to discuss challenges and solutions to achieve it.
Today is commemorated while Palestinian women suffer from a serious deterioration in human rights situation across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) due to the ongoing Israeli military escalations on the Gaza Strip; most recently was on 05 August that killed 12 civilians, including 3 women. The escalation coincided with the ongoing strangulating closure on the Gaza Strip for more than 15 years, which has made the economic and social situation get worse, thereby increasing pressures on women in the Gaza Strip.
While the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, has witnessed an increase in violations of the right to life, since the beginning of 2022, Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) attacks have killed (99) civilians, including (5) women. The most prominent of these attacks was the murder of Al Jazeera Channel’s correspondent, journalist Shireen Abu ‘Akleh, while on duty. Also, demolitions, land razing, confiscations, and settlement activities have continued, displacing 131 families of 767 persons, including 151 women. Moreover, IOF continue to arrest women as they have arrested 43 women this year. These violations coincided with IOF’s ongoing restrictions on the freedom of movement in the West Bank. On top of its 108 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 4000 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, restricting the Palestinian woman’s freedom of movement, and affecting their social, economic and cultural rights.
In terms of the internal situation on Palestine, the Palestinian political division still undermines women’s rights, preventing passing any law that protects women from violence, particularly domestic violence, and prevented the unification of legal systems in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to ensure that all women and girls in Palestine enjoy equal protection.
On the other hand, Palestinian women still suffer from the continuation of patriarchal system in the society, where men are given privileges over women and exercise their controlling authority over women, in addition relaying on the clan system to solve family issues that is mainly based on customs and traditions which are unjust to women.
Despite Palestine’s accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) without reservations, the Palestinian Authority has not yet taken sufficient steps to fully realize this convention, which aims to end discrimination against women in all its forms, including laws and practices, and reduce violence against women and murder that is considered one of its consequences.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) statistics in 2022, 6 women have been killed in the West Bank; 2 of them due to the misuse of firearms, while 3 women were killed in the Gaza Strip: one in a family dispute, the other by one of her family members and the third due to the misuse of firearms.
PCHR affirms its support for women and girls wherever they are, and in light of the ongoing suffering of Palestinian women in particular, PCHR:
