HRW Report: Palestinian women victims of violence

Nov. 6, 2006 19:09 | Updated Nov. 6, 2006 19:38
HRW Report: Palestinian women victims of violence
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A new report paints an alarming picture of the abuse of women in the Palestinian territories, with police, courts and government agencies failing to treat violence such as rape and beatings as a crime.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch cited practices such as rape victims being forced to marry assailants and light sentences for men who kill female relatives suspected of adultery. It said families, tribal leaders and authorities, backed by tradition and discriminatory laws, often sacrifice victims' interests for "family honor."

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Oct. 11, 2006 1:29 | Updated Oct. 11, 2006 10:35
Woman stabbed by brother in suspected honor killing
By REBECCA ANNA STOIL

A 24-year-old woman in the Upper Galilee was found lying in a pool of her own blood late Tuesday morning, and while Magen David Adom (MDA) teams and doctors struggled to save her life, police arrested her brother, who confessed to trying to kill his sister.

Police said they believed the young woman had been attacked by family members in what is known as an honor killing, a phenomenon in Arab communities in which a female is murdered by her own family because they believe the woman's actions have besmirched the family honor. Full article inside

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Thousands of Women Killed for Family "Honor"
Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News

February 12, 2002

Hundreds, if not thousands, of women are murdered by their families each year in the name of family "honor." It's difficult to get precise numbers on the phenomenon of honor killing; the murders frequently go unreported, the perpetrators unpunished, and the concept of family honor justifies the act in the eyes of some societies.

Most honor killings occur in countries where the concept of women as a vessel of the family reputation predominates, said Marsha Freemen, director of International Women's Rights Action Watch at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Full article inside

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Tashah said:

Full story here:
HRW Report: Palestinian women victims of violence

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cherokee said:

But how can this be? Gandhi>Bush was just telling us how good Muslim men treat their women..........:roll:

It floors me to read just how retarded these people are..

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The face of Jacob said:

Wife Beating I

Wife Beating II

Why women shouldn't be allowed to drive?

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“He [my husband] used to beat me everywhere. He beat me with a rock on my leg … I never went to the hospital, and I didn’t even tell my parents. I was just thankful to be alive.”
− Mariam Ismail (pseudonym), 35

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“My problem started with my family. When I was 12, my brother attacked me, attacked me sexually…My brother was 24. He’d hit me. Everyone in my family knew. My father died when I was small, so there was no one to protect me. My brother would even hit my mother. I didn’t report it since there was no one to protect me. I couldn’t tell the police. I was not allowed to even leave the house.”
− Nada Omar (pseudonym), 30

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“Rape cases are dealt with at the police station as special cases. Most of the time, the result is that they [the rapist and the victim] get married under the carpet to avoid scandal. Rape cases rarely go to courts … In all of these cases, the police want to solve the matter within the family without documentation.”
− Palestinian women’s rights activist, Gaza

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Shayah said:

If I recall correctly, the Israeli government estimates that an average of two to three Palestinian females are murdered each week for supposed crimes of 'zina' (forbidden sexual behavior). No reliable estimate is available for the number of Palestinian female suicides in this regard, but the number is considered to be surprisingly high.

Many governments and NGOs estimate a per annum rate of one female 'honor killing' per day in Pakistan.

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