A Question of Security

Violence Against Palestinian Women and Girls

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• MAP 1

• MAP 2

• 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)