Memorandum submitted by The Women's Center
for Legal Aid and Counselling[259]
CONSEQUENCES OF
POVERTY ON
WOMEN
1. The deteriorating economic conditions
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) have impacted on women
and children's nutritional status and general health. According
to a Johns Hopkins University report prepared jointly with Al
Quds University in August 2002,[260]
16% of non-pregnant women of childbearing age and 19.7% of children
are suffering from moderate to severe anemia.
2. According to an estimate given by the
Palestinian Ministry of Health,[261]
there has been a decrease in antenatal and post-natal clinic attendance
rates, due to the Israeli-imposed restrictions on movement; only
about 30% of all eligible women now benefit from maternity services.
3. According to the Palestinian Central
Bureau of Statistics, 9.8% of Palestinian families are now headed
by females and the poverty rate among female-headed households
is 25.6% (compared with 19.8% for male-headed households). Those
households belong to widows of Martyrs, other widows, to wives
of Palestinian prisoners, and also to women who have been abandoned
by their husbands. The rise and increase on cases during the last
two years belonging to the last category (families being abandoned
by the husband) has been noticed by Human rights organisations
and women's rights organizations such as the Women's Center for
Legal Aid and Counselling.
LACK OF
FREEDOM OF
MOVEMENT
4. The lack of freedom movement of goods
and people can't be positively affected by the present funding
or by increasing it. Freedom of movement will only be applicable
when Israel removes all checkpoints and other barriers.
5. The impact of the Israeli regime and
checkpoints on the life of Palestinian women and their unborn
children is one to be worried about as it is one of the clearest
violations of the right to life. According to the Palestinian
Ministry of Health, there have been numerous reported deaths of
pregnant women at checkpoints in the last three years, and cases
of harassment by soldiers of pregnant women, as well as cases
in which women were forced to give birth at the military checkpoints.[262]
There has also been an increase of 30% in home deliveries, due
to movement restrictions. According to the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA),[263]
one fifth of pregnant women in Gaza and the West Bank could not
receive prenatal care because of the difficulty of traveling through
checkpoints to health facilities. Women are being denied their
basic right to deliver their babies in a safe and clean environment
and thus their fundamental right to be treated with dignity.
EDUCATION
6. Restriction on movement and economic
hardship is also affecting female education. According to the
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the illiteracy
rate for individuals of 15 years and over is as follows 13.6%
compared to 4.3% for males. Many families are not sending their
children to school because of the checkpoints, the closure of
roads, the ever present threat that Israeli military may use the
school as a military base, the threat of violence if the school
is situated near an area where regular confrontations take place.
HEALTH
7. Maternal Health Care is one sector which
obviously is being affected the most. Looking at local statistics
by the PBCS the percentage of pregnant women on 2001 who did
not receive antenatal care (15-49 years), increased 4.5 times
due to Israeli measures, 4.4% during 2000 to 19.6% during the
present crisis. In addition, the percentage of pregnant women
who did not receive tetanus toxoid increased by 4.2%. It increased
from 73.5% in 2000 to 76.6% in 2001.
8. Women are affected at the public as well
as the private sphere, as they experience the effects as the
whole population and they also carry the consequences resulted
by the loss of the land which are brought to the household as
news responsibilities. What we are most concerned is on the overall
health of women, taking it from its different angles Psychological,
Emotional and Social. Her health status affects all members of
the family. She is bearing the responsibility of caring and maintaining
the well being of the whole family as part of a role traditionally
she has been playing. During the present crisis, her role and
responsibilities are enlarging in a context where resources and
spaces are shrinking.
9. On the basis of information collected
from our field visits and personal accounts from the owners of
the confiscated land, gender relations are experiencing a crisis.
While women are still doing the expected gender roles, the gender
based violence is increasing, according to the Social Unit at
the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling.
10. Mental health has been deteriorating
as a direct impact on the ongoing Israeli measures. Fears are
being articulated in different occasions by organizations such
as WCLAC of the future situation of Palestinian people's mental
health after the end of the present crisis. We expect that people
will call for help and assistance on higher levels than they are
now. Present statistics (not published) by WCLAC show an increase
on cases approaching the center for help. Most of these cases
are women.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. To urge Israel to respect and adhere
to International Humanitarian Law, specially 4th Geneva Convention,
specially that basic services and public life are at risk, thus,
endangering all efforts for future state building efforts. In
this vein, the wall must stop, military checkpoints removed, and
all kind of arbitrary violent measures against Palestinian people.
2. To ensure that the existing structures
of the Palestinian Authority can be reinforced by donor's assistance;
specially those structures which provide daily and basic service
for people, such as municipalities, and relevant ministries, (the
Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education . . . etc.)
3. To pay special attention and focus on
the assistance of the Ministry of Social Affairs, for its expected
role and its present weaknesses, which are affecting different
sectors, such women, specially poor women, children and special
needs individuals.
4. To strategise donor's assistance for
Palestinian NGO's towards the building and the strengthening of
civil society.
5. To assist and reinforce the capability
of UNRWA in its efforts to aid and help Palestinian refugees.
The cuts made during the past years resulted in a shortage of
UNRWA assistance to refugees which has aggravated specially the
situation of poor refugees.
October 2003
259 The Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling
(WCLAC) is a Palestinian Non-governmental Organisation that aims
to contribute to the establishment of a democratic Palestinian
society, based on social justice and equality between women and
men. WCLAC strives to provide support and guidance to Palestinian
women whose human rights and rights under law have been violated.
We defend women's rights as human rights and seek to promote the
development of a social, political and legal order in which human
rights and women's rights are well protected. Back
260
Nutritional Assessment and Sentinel Surveillance System for West
Bank and Gaza. Johns Hopkins University, Al Quds University. 5
August, 2002. Back
261
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA).-Relief Web. As mentioned by OCHA, information
has been taken from the Ministry of Health. Back
262
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA).-Relief Web. Taken from the Ministry of Health,
as mentioned on their website. Back
263
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations, New
York, 5 April 2002. Back
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