The conference "Do not leave her hanging"
During the conference "Do not leave her hanging", specialists in women's issues called for adopting 2011 as a year for women, for providing a fund to support women left in marital limbo so that they may be paid the financial dues owed to them by their husbands, and for working seriously on networking and coordination among all the organisations to press the government to amend the personal status law.
This came during the closing ceremony of the project "Strengthening and protecting women victims of violence", carried out by the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in partnership with the Norwegian People's Aid office, attended by the director of the Gaza branch, Mr. Iyad Abu Hjair, the head of the Supreme Sharia Judicial Council, Hassan Al-Joujou, and others.
The participants recommended strengthening the religious sense among the members of society, running comprehensive sharia-based awareness campaigns on rights and duties, and reducing the high cost of dowries.
In his address on behalf of the Centre, Abu Hjair explained that the cases of women left in marital limbo are raised a great deal but little is done about them, and that the phenomenon affecting women is a global one but is particular in Palestine, its particularity stemming from the particularity of the Palestinian people, who suffer under the Israeli occupation.
He stressed that violence against women, given its growing scale, needs growing efforts and needs more responsibility towards women as an essential partner in society.
He called for contributing to lifting the injustice done to women, for redoubling official and unofficial efforts, for adopting a national plan that addresses all women's needs, and in addition for setting realistic objectives through which what is required can be achieved.
He noted that women need to rise up in favour of their rights, not to keep playing the role of victim, and to wrest the rights guaranteed to them by sharia and by law.
In her address on behalf of the Norwegian aid office, Reem Al-Wehaidi called for abolishing and criminalising the killing of females under so-called honour crimes, for republishing the laws and legislation that were in force during the British Mandate and Jordanian rule, and for treating women as citizens along with their commitment to the duties upon them.
Al-Wehaidi confirmed that the Norwegian People's Aid office believes in human rights and in women's equality in rights and in giving them their rights according to sharia and the law.
For her part, the psychologist at the Conflict Resolution Center, Randa Baraka, explained that the programme seeks to reach a happy woman able to give and to build, stressing that society suffers from many issues and political pressures that have increased women's problems.
She noted that the programme works on empowering women through psychological experts by means of social counselling, its team and the reconciliation figures.
For his part, Al-Joujou confirmed that there is no methodology, no Qur'anic text and no law that explains how to deal with women left in marital limbo, calling on civil society organisations to support women's causes in order to limit violence.
It is noted that the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution began an awareness campaign on the issues of violence against women during 2010.
During the ceremony a documentary film entitled "And do not leave her hanging" was screened, and cases of women left in marital limbo were hosted.
