A Question of Security: Violence against Palestinian Women and Girls

A Question of Security

Violence against Palestinian Women and Girls

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I. Summary

Key Recommendations

Note on Methodology

II. Background

The Political and Legal Status of the Occupied Palestinian Territories

The Palestinian Criminal Justice System

The Palestinian Police

The Attorney General and Public Prosecutors

The Palestinian Judiciary

Applicable Laws

The Status of Palestinian Women

The Palestinian Women’s Rights Movement

III. Social and Legal Obstacles to Reporting Violence and Seeking Redress

Spousal Abuse

Child Abuse

Sexual Violence

Rape

Incest

Murder of Women under the Guise of “Honor”

IV. Failings in Institutional Responses to Violence against Women and Girls

The Role of the Police

The Role of Medical Professionals

The Absence of Medical Guidelines and Breaches of Confidentiality

Forensic Doctors and Forced Virginity Testing

The Informal Justice System

The Role of Governors in the Informal Justice System

Inaccessible Shelters for Victims of Violence

The Nablus Shelter

The Bethlehem Home for Girls

V. Obligations under International Human Rights Law

The Right to Non-Discrimination and Equality before the Law

State Responsibility for Abuses by Third Parties

VI. Conclusion

VII. Recommendations

To the Palestinian Authority

To President Mahmoud Abbas

To the Palestinian Legislative Council

To the Attorney General

To the Ministry of Interior

To the Ministry of Social Affairs

To the Ministry of Health

To the Government of Israel

To the International Donor Community

Acknowledgments

November 2006 Volume 18, No. 7(E)