March 8, 2022
On International Women’s Day, PCHR Reiterates Support for Palestinian Women’s Rights and Demands Protection and Justice for Them
On International Women’s Day, PCHR Reiterates Support for Palestinian Women’s Rights and Demands Protection and Justice for Them

Ref: 25/2022

Date 08 March 2022

Time: 08:00 GMT

Every year, the world celebrates the 8th of March, which marks the International Women’s Day that was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1977, to ensure that all women all over the world enjoy their rights guaranteed by all international standards and laws and symbolize women’s continuous struggle for justice and equality.

March 8th comes this year while Palestinian women are still facing big challenges on their way to end various forms of violations of their fundamental rights in light of exceptional circumstances and deteriorating human rights situation on one hand and ongoing Palestinian division on the other hand along with the remarkably increased violence against women by the society.

In terms of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF’s) violations last year, IOF conducted a military offensive on the Gaza Strip last May, killing 38 women and wounding 397 others during IOF’s strikes on their houses; PCHR documented the killing of entire families under the rubble of those houses, including women and children.  Also, thousands of civilians, including women and children, were forcibly displaced at wide scale from their houses in extremely serious circumstances, searching for safe places to take refuge in.

In the West Bank, IOF killed 5 women last year along with women’s suffering of additional violations, including demolition of houses and civilian objects that led to displacement of 33 families of 211 individuals, including 37 women and 98 children.  Moreover, settlers’ attacks escalated against civilians, including women, the latest was when a woman and her child sustained bruises due to settlers’ attack on her house in Sinjil village, eastern Ramallah. Moreover, since the beginning of 2022, IOF arrested 8 women while 32 others are still in the Israeli prisons, which lack basic necessities of human life, exposed to abuses and collective punishment and undergoing various methods of psychological and physical pressure.

On the internal Palestinian level, Palestinian women and girls are still suffering from gender-based violence, which recently increased due to the deteriorating economic, social, and living conditions triggered by the Israeli-imposed closure on the Gaza Strip and outbreak of coronavirus pandemic during the last 2 years. Last year, PCHR documented 10 women murders (4 in the West Bank and 6 in the Gaza Strip) in various social violence-based crimes, including one murder on grounds of so-called “family honor.” Moreover, 3 girls less than 18 years old were killed by one of their family members in the Gaza Strip. The latest was a heinous crime committed last February against (N.S.Kh.) (31) when she was severely beaten to death by her husband in al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southern Gaza City.

The Palestinian division is one of the major obstacles facing the Palestinian women and significantly affects adoption of unified laws that protect women from violence and are fairer and more equitable to women’s causes. Although democratic hopes were reignited in the beginning of 2021 in terms of holding general elections, the presidential decision to cancel those elections was met with shock and disappointment by people who were hoping to end the division, enhance Palestinian women’s political participation, and force the decision-makers to end all forms of discrimination against women.

PCHR congratulates Palestinian women on the International Women’s Day and reiterates its support for them wherever they are.  PCHR asserts the importance of providing protection for them and:

  1. emphasizes that it is the responsibility of the international community according to its contractual obligations to force the Israeli occupation to lift the closure on the Gaza Strip, respect human rights and abide by the principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights law towards the Palestinian people;
  2. Demands protection for civilians, including women, and force the Israeli occupation authorities to respect human rights and abide by the principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights law;
  3. The PA must take the necessary measures to put an end to community violence, to hold perpetrators of crimes against women accountable and to adopt protection against family violence law.
  4. The PA must fulfil its international obligations following Palestine’s accession to CEDAW; and
  5. Palestinian political factions, governmental, non-governmental and civil society organizations should exert all efforts to improve women’s participation in the political, social, and economic sectors.
  6. Amend laws in a way that guarantees gender equality before law and continue the struggle for enacting laws that harmonize with the international conventions, particularly Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.