Tackling Domestic Violence in the West Bank
BY: Charlotte Littlewood
The horrific honor killing of 21-year-old Israa Ghareeb, from Bethlehem, sparked protest throughout the Middle East.
Brutally murdered by her brother-in-law and other male members of her family, in memory of Israa, activists across the Arab world are campaigning against honor violence.
Discussions with locals in Ramallah suggest the outrage may inspire change.
“According to Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) 2011 Violence Survey, an average of 37% of women are victims of GBV in Palestine; in the Gaza Strip, this percentage increases to 51%.” At the time the report was compiled, of the women who came forward as victims of domestic violence in the West Bank, only 0.7 percent sought assistance. These numbers exemplify high rates of occurrence and low rates of assistance-seeking. Between 2010 and 2015, 50 women were killed by domestic violence, in the name of so-called “family honor” in Palestine. (UNFPA Palestine)
Israa lived near to the Mehwar Centre , a fully-equipped safe house for women under threat of violence. Unfortunately, the safe house has no website. When you ask women in neighboring towns whether they know of it, very few do. Become The Voice (BTV), a UK-based youth empowerment organization, works to change this.
In the West Bank, BTV has been working with youth to tackle domestic violence since April 2018, focusing on awareness-raising campaigns. In November 2019, in partnership with Women in Hebron, we will launch an eight-week domestic violence awareness youth program to equip, enable, and empower the youth group to deliver expert training to women living in remote areas around Hebron. The intent is to improve awareness of the support services available to victims of domestic violence, so as to help prevent atrocities such as the murder of Israa Ghareeb.
Last year, our training resulted in a woman contacting the police and reporting a case of domestic violence. We also hope to see a strengthening of laws protecting women from violence and equipping front line services in how to handle cases of domestic violence.
BTV is committed to equipping, empowering and enabling youth to become the voice — to effect change that positively impacts their communities. BTV is built of a small team of trainers experienced in tackling extremism, facilitating interfaith dialogue, using debate to challenge prejudicial thinking and youth work. Please consider supporting us.
Charlotte Littlewood is a counter-extremism expert. Having led on the delivery of the UK government’s Counter Extremism strategy, she later founded Become The Voice CIC (BTV), and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Exeter, researching “Minority protection in the UK; an Ahmadiyya case study.”
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