Embassy of the State of Palestine

Statement by Her Excellency Ms. Rabiha Diab, Minister of Women’s Affairs, the State of Palestine, before the Commission on the Status of Women, 58th session, New York, 11 March 2014

12 March 2014 by Palestine at the UN

Mr. Chair,

On behalf of the State of Palestine, I extend our congratulations to you and the other members of the Bureau on your election to this important Commission, and express our confidence that, under your wise and skilled leadership, this session will be successful.

I wish also to extend our felicitations to all women in the world on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March, and let us make it an incentive to all of us to achieve all the objectives we aspire to.

Before proceeding with my statement, I wish to express our appreciation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for his report on the “Situation of and Assistance to Palestinian Women” and stress the importance we place on this report. We also express our appreciation to, and support of the statements delivered by the Group of 77 and China, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Group, and of the Cairo Declaration in this context.

Mr. Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen,

As emphasized in the Secretary-General’s report, the political, humanitarian and socio-economic crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as a result of the Israeli military occupation and its oppressive policies and practices against the Palestinian people has significantly affected Palestinian women in the most detrimental way. The intensification of the construction of illegal settlements and the apartheid wall, the intensification of home demolitions, the imposition of severe restrictions on the movement of persons and goods and the collective punishment and gross violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people, among other violations and crimes against our people, continue to have devastating ramifications on the advancement and empowerment of Palestinian women and consequently on the overall health and advancement of Palestinian society as a whole.

Up until this moment, I regret to say that, due to the illegal, inhumane blockade imposed by Israel, there are more than 1.7 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip actually isolated from the rest of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and isolated from the world, in what amounts to the massive collective punishment of our people there. Movement restrictions also continue to impact every aspect of life in the West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem in particular remains inaccessible to the majority of our population and is being isolated by the occupying Power from the rest of its natural Palestinian environ. The physical and administrative restrictions imposed by Israel impede access to some of the most vulnerable groups in Area C, particularly Bedouin communities, and this prolonged and racial policy has grave effects on the situation of Palestinian women and their families.

Indicators regarding Palestinian women in various sectors reveal that the participation of women in the labor market is low, accounting for only 17% and that violence remains a threat to Palestinian women at a level 37%. The indicators also affirm that the occupation constitutes a primary source of violence, which threatens Palestinian women who suffer from systematic violations of their basic rights enshrined in international covenants.

We are proud, however, that Palestinian women have made remarkable progress in education, with high rates of enrollment in educational institutions, and illiteracy among women declining to 7 % in 2013. The percentage of female judges was 13% in 2012. A woman has been appointed as governor, and another woman as a decision-maker in the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and a woman is chairing the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, while other women are holding ministerial positions at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Ministry of Culture and, of course, Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

Mr. Chair, ladies and Gentlemen,

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has undertaken an approach, based on international law and human rights, to formulate a number of national strategic plans in response to the actual needs of Palestinian women and to enable them to achieve protection and justice, and to empower them to achieve their rights and to have resources without any restriction. Among the most notable of those plans, for example, are the “National Cross-Sectoral Strategy to Promote Gender Justice and Equality for the years 2014-2016”, the “National Strategy Plan to Combat Violence against Women for the years 2011-2019”, and the “National Strategy for the Integration of Gender in the Fields of Water and Solid Waste”. Those plans have led to the establishment of several policy committees and task forces, most notably the “National Committee on Violence against Women”, the “High National Committee for the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325”, and the “Committee on the Employment of Women.” A national steering committee was also established to prepare contemporary and vital drafts for the Palestinian Personal Status Law and the Penal Code. Those committees and task forces reflect the commitment at the political level to the issues and needs of women and to align legislation and public policies in the country to ensure their adaptation to the needs of protection and empowerment of women and to redress injustices endured by women who are victims of violence.

We pursue the support for, and implementation of the following recommendations:

1- Calling upon the international community to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem;

2- Removal of restrictions on movement of persons and goods and on access to resources, and a complete cessation of settlement construction and halt to settler violence;

3- Prevention of all forms of violence against women and addressing the obstacles and challenges to women’s access to the judicial system and benefiting from its services;

4- Empowering and supporting Palestinian women economically to be effective partners in the sustainable development;

5- Providing poor and rural women with the appropriate tools and mechanisms to establish sustainable small businesses, including through local women community organizations;

6- Supporting Palestinian women to achieve their objectives of gender equality at all levels, including political participation and decision-making.

Mr. Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen,

0ur participation, with your support, in this session is a consecration of your efforts towards building societies where the rights and freedoms of women are respected. In this regard, we reaffirm our ongoing pursuit of full realization of women’s rights based on respect of all international and regional resolutions and decisions. We express our readiness to conduct aligning approaches between our experience in formulating fair general and legislative policies for Palestinian women in various sectors with focus on the economic and political sectors, and the individual experiences of the various components of this conference and its activities, especially those related to achieving the protection and empowerment of women.

In this context, we reaffirm the legal and humanitarian value of the Cairo Declaration in 2014 on the Millennium Development Goals with regard to women and girls, gender equality and empowerment of women in the Arab region. We must underscore the importance of the goal of gender equality and the empowerment of women as an independent goal of the Post- 2015 Development Agenda. In this context, we are committed to mobilize our energies and resources to ensure the fulfillment of all the just commitments to women’s issues by transforming the Beijing Declaration from its theoretical context to an applicable one, a long-overdue objective as we approach its 20th anniversary.

Mr. Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I conclude my statement by emphasizing the importance of increased assistance and support to Palestinian women by the international community and the United Nations, including the Commission on Status of Women and UN Women, especially at this critical time. We call on all men and women worldwide to march hand in hand with the Palestinian people to demand an end to Israel’s occupation in order to allow for the true advancement and empowerment of Palestinian women, along with all of the Palestinian people, in their independent, free and democratic State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, A State free of violence where social justice and real partnership between women and men prevail.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.