Palestine – National Strategic Plan to Combat Violence Against Women
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: July 22, 2005
WUNRN
PALESTINE – CABINET ENDORSES
NATIONAL STRATEGY
PLAN TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN
Direct Link to 4-Page Palestine
Strategic Plan on VAW 2011-2019:
The Palestinian Cabinet endorsed a nine-year national strategic plan to combat violence
against women in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), the first of its
kind in the Arab region developed through a bottom-up approach. Officially
adopted on 11 January 2011 and announced at the Palestinian Ministry of Women’s
Affairs during a press conference today, the strategy takes on a cross-sector
approach, recognizing violence against women as a development issue affecting
the social, economic and political systems of Palestinian society.
The Palestinian Ministry of Women’s Affairs, with the support of UN Women,
led the development process of the territory’s National Strategic Plan to
Combat Violence against Women (2011-2019). The Strategy includes inputs from a
range of sources, including women’s organizations, civil society, community
organizations, private sector, ministries and women refugees.
UN Resident Coordinator for the oPt Maxwell Gaylard stressed the importance
of such a strategy for women in the territory’s context, and assured strong UN
involvement in supporting the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Gaylard was
one of a number of participants at the press conference, attended by the
Palestinian Minister of Women’s Affairs Rabiha Diab and Director of the
Palestinian Government Media Centre Ghassan Al-Khatib.
While Palestinian men are most vulnerable to conflict-related violence,
women are frequently exposed to violence from a wide range of sources,
including the conflict with Israel, the intra-Palestinian divide and domestic
violence. According to a 2010 World Bank gender study of the region,
the conflict has permeated various aspects of Palestinian life, from the
economic to the domestic level.
The work behind the Strategic Plan took part within the framework of the
three-year Millennium Development Goals Trust Fund Gender Equality and Women’s
Empowerment programme, financed by the Government of Spain and bringing
together six UN agencies. The Strategic Plan is complementary to the
Palestinian Authority’s 2011-2013 Cross-Sectoral National Gender Strategy,
which considers violence as one of its main themes.
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