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Gender-based violence

Gender-based violence 


 

 

 

Overview

 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive human rights violation that affects women and girls worldwide. It undermines their health, dignity, security, and autonomy, often in silence. GBV begins early in life and exists in all spaces women occupy, including digital platforms. The consequences of GBV for survivors' physical, mental, and sexual and reproductive health are significant and can include injuries, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and psychological disorders.

 

In Palestine, GBV remains a significant problem, with 59% of women and girls reporting experiencing at least one form of GBV. Factors such as poverty, instability, political conflict, and deteriorating living conditions contribute to its complexity. Psychological violence is reported by 57% of survivors, physical violence by 19%, sexual violence by 9%, and emerging forms such as cyber violence by 10%. However, the uptake of multi-sectoral GBV services is very low, with less than 2% of survivors seeking healthcare, legal, or protection services due to weak protection systems and national referral mechanisms.

 

The perpetuation of GBV in Palestine is rooted in societal norms that uphold male power, control, and the subordination of women and girls. Addressing this issue requires transforming patriarchal and discriminatory norms, promoting positive masculinities, and engaging men and boys in the pursuit of gender equality. Empowering women and promoting gender equality are not only human rights imperatives but also crucial for social and economic development. When women are empowered and live without fear of violence, they can assert their rights and contribute to the well-being and productivity of entire families and communities.

 

Review of health, justice and police, and social essential services for women and girls survivors of violence

Palestine Gender Justice and The Law

Immediate and Critical Needs of Girls and Women: In the Aftermath of May 2021 Escalation

Gender-based Violence Needs Assessment in East Jerusalem

Women and Girls with Disabilities

Violence against the Elderly in Palestine

Mapping Interventions Preventing and Responding to Gender Based Violence in oPt

 

 

Child marriage

 

Despite Palestine's commitment to ending child marriage, the prevalence remains significant, with approximately one in eight girls getting married before the age of 18. In fact, 13.4 percent of women aged 20-24 report being married before turning 18. Child marriage is more common in rural and marginalized areas, such as Gaza, Area C, and East Jerusalem, where poverty and gender inequality are contributing factors. It is crucial to address the misconceptions held by some parents who believe that early marriage will provide financial security or protect their daughters from sexual violence.

 

Enforcing existing laws against child marriage is of utmost importance, especially when girls who are at risk or already married seek protection and justice. To combat this issue, collective efforts are needed to ensure that girls have access to education, health information and services, and life-skills training. By addressing these underlying issues, we can empower girls to make informed decisions about their lives and shape their own futures. Eliminating child marriage requires collaboration and the creation of a supportive environment that promotes gender equality and safeguards the rights of girls

 

Child Marriage in Palestine

Strategy for addressing child early/forced marriage

 

 

What does UNFPA do?

 

UNFPA is actively engaged in combating gender-based violence (GBV) and ending child marriage through a systematic approach based on three pillars aiming to address the root causes of GBV, support survivors, and create an enabling policy environment that promotes gender equality and protects the rights of women and girls in Palestine.

 

  1. Improving national policies, accountability mechanisms and ensuring access to high-quality GBV services:
  • UNFPA has established and supports eleven women and girls safe spaces in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, offering comprehensive services such as sexual and reproductive health, mental health and psychosocial support, case management, legal counseling, couple therapy, dignity kits, cash and voucher assistance, as well as livelihood, vocational, and life skills training.
  • Supporting hotlines that provide GBV survivors with access to services and information while ensuring privacy and confidentiality.
  • Providing support to women-led organizations through grants and capacity building activities to enhance their ability to implement interventions related to GBV risk mitigation, prevention, and response.
  • Enhancing the skills, knowledge, and capacities of GBV service providers through in-service training on various aspects of gender-based violence prevention, response, and protection services.
  • Strengthening the capacity of health and social protection actors to promote gender equality and effectively address gender-based violence, including in humanitarian settings.
  • Supporting community protection networks to improve outreach, detection, and referral of women survivors of GBV, as well as leading the promotion of GBV services, the national referral system, and the family protection law, thereby enhancing access to GBV services for women and girls.
  • Advocating for and implementing legal and policy frameworks that protect adolescent girls from child, early, and forced marriage, and supporting married girls who wish to leave marriage.
  • Engaging adolescent girls at risk of child marriage through life skills and awareness-raising programs about their rights.
  • Scaling up standards for the delivery of clinical management of rape care services, including training for health and social providers to ensure they are knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities in handling rape cases. The clinical management of rape protocol was adopted, and a working group has been established.
  • Providing inclusive support for GBV survivors and women with disabilities in humanitarian contexts, including cash voucher assistance, mental health and psychosocial support, and mobile clinics.
  • Actively participating in the PSEA (Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) Network and supporting national mechanisms to provide a safe and accessible channel for community members to report sexual exploitation and abuse.

From rags to riches: A journey of a woman who survived her perpetrator and cancer

  1. Enhancing national mechanisms and community-level capacities to address discriminatory gender and sociocultural norms:
  • Utilizing a gender-transformative approach to address the social root causes of gender inequality and promote equitable outcomes.
  • Activating national and subnational mechanisms, such as the National Committee to Combat Violence and the Observatory for GBV, to address social and gender norms and generate knowledge on perceptions and attitudes.
  • Establishing a national mechanism/platform, coordinated by the Ministry of Women Affairs, for engaging men and boys to promote positive masculinities.
  • Implementing a social norm empowerment package that supports women and girls to become agents of change in promoting gender equality and transforming social norms.
  • Supporting community-level social movements, youth and women-led networks, and active youth groups to undertake effective advocacy and awareness campaigns on gender equality and GBV prevention, aiming to change behaviors, social norms, and practices, with a specific focus on ending child marriage and enacting the Family Protection Law.
  • Establishing networks of positive masculinity champions, engaging men in active fatherhood, and involving social media influencers as ambassadors for behavioral change to lead campaigns on positive masculinities and gender equality promotion.
  • Mainstreaming GBV prevention for young girls and boys in both formal and informal education systems.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices among Men in the Gaza Strip Related to SRHR and Child Rearing

 

  1. GBV Coordination:

UNFPA Is chairing the inter-agency GBV sub-cluster which serves as a coordination platform to address gender-based violence in Palestine. UNFPA has made progress in building a strong and coherent GBV sub-cluster, facilitating the sharing of knowledge, good practices, experiences, and lessons learned. The sub-cluster serves as a forum for discussing needs and gaps related to GBV prevention and response. UNFPA increased the capacity of 75 sub-cluster members through training on GBV concepts, case management, referral pathways, GBV services, women's rights, and gender equality.