Palestine

Laws allowing mitigation of penalties for “honour” crimes were repealed in 2011 and 2018 in the West Bank. The government in Gaza has not applied the reforms. There is no legal prohibition of FGM as it is not practiced. The legal age of marriage for women in the West Bank is 18 years under the Jordanian personal status law while, in the Gaza Strip, it is 17 years old. However, in “exceptional circumstances”, the judge may approve a marriage for those under these limits.

The rapist is penalized regardless of the acceptance to marry the victim. Rape is criminalized by article 152 of the penal code of 1936 in Gaza Strip and article 292 of the penal code of 1960 in the West Bank. In the West Bank, article 308 of the penal code, which allowed the rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims, was repealed in 2018.

There is no specific strategy for combating VAWG. However, the Council of Ministers issued a National Policy Agenda: Putting Citizens First 2017–2022. The policy includes the government’s commitment to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and institutionalizing gender mainstreaming in policy making. Nevertheless, the policy does not have allocated budget or monitoring and evaluation plan.

There is no national health policy that is specifically intended to address VAWG. However, the 2017–2022 National Health Strategy endorses the need for cross-sectorial cooperation to support gender and youth health, including sexual awareness; adolescents and youth health; sexually transmitted diseases; women’s empowerment; and health care for women and men at different stages of life. It also strives to implement a national referral system for women victims of violence.

Formal channels of reporting systems include police, courts departments within Ministry of Interior, governmental hospitals.

There is no information on how many cases are acted upon compared to the reported cases. The reported cases are acted upon according to laws and procedures that include investigation, prosecution, and punishment of the perpetrators, wherever the violence occurs.

No available information.

There are procedures for service providers assisting victims of VAWG. They include a set of rules that comes under the National Referral System for dealing with women victims of VAWG. The procedures include actions for transferring the case from one service provider to another to receive other by police.

There are no specific governmental guidelines to be used by law to identify trafficked women and there is no specific anti-trafficking law. However, there are some provisions of the penal code of Jordan and the child law which apply to trafficking in the West Bank.

There are no specific governmental guidelines to be used by law to identify trafficked women and there is no specific anti-trafficking law. However, there are some provisions of the penal code of Jordan and the child law which apply to trafficking in the West Bank.

There are regulations that oblige service providers including those in the health sector to care for and/or refer VAWG victims.

There is a gender focal point working within the National Referral System for the coordination of health sector response for VAWG victims.