700 children subjected to sexual harassment in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
Children are our dearest ones. Caring for them, attending to them, and following up and correcting their behaviour is a duty that falls on parents and on society as a whole, given how critical and sensitive this stage of life is, being the foundation on which their personalities are built.
Sexual harassment is a grave event with severe negative psychological and physical effects on children at every level, in both the short and the long term. The subject receives little attention from society because of its sensitivity and because of society's conservative customs and traditions.
Sexual harassment has deep and appalling effects on a child because of the helplessness and fear it produces, leaving difficult psychological effects that may stay with the child for a long time, even beyond adolescence, and that affect the rest of their life.
In the light of this reality, the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution decided to carry out the project "A protective environment for children against sexual exploitation and harassment", to raise the awareness of different groups in society about the danger of harassment of children and how to confront it at every level: health, psychological and legal.
The project, delivered by highly experienced and competent psychologists and legal specialists, included many activities, events, seminars, workshops and awareness lectures on the serious dangers of sexual harassment of children. It reached a large number of parents, mothers, children, mukhtars, notables, public figures and mosque imams, and the activities were widely welcomed by the target groups.
The project was delivered through 35 organisations in the governorates of the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank (Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Jenin and Nablus) between 1/1/2014 and 31/12/2015. It is the second project of its kind that the Centre has carried out with funding from the European Union.
The Centre revealed that close to 700 cases of sexual harassment in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were received, handled, counselled and given awareness support, along with legal and psychological support. It explained that the awareness sessions reached 12,450 children aged 7 to 12 through 3,320 sessions held with them, while educational sessions for families reached 13,000 parents.
Statistics compiled by the Centre showed that the rate of sexual harassment is steadily rising. In the first third of 2015 the Centre recorded more than 200 cases, with boys accounting for over 60%. The Centre noted that most victims are aged 7 to 12, and that a large number of them were harassed by someone known or close to the child.
Many therapeutic sessions were held for children who had fallen victim to such harassment, and those running the project succeeded in helping the child victims to take part in society in a healthy way and to overcome the most serious negative effects. A case management committee was formed to intervene in difficult cases and to offer opinion and advice, and the system of referral to the legal field was activated, where the family requests it, so that it can play its natural part in holding perpetrators to account. Within this framework the Centre provided legal support to 27 victims of harassment.
Among the real cases treated by the Centre's specialists, one mother came to the Centre complaining of new symptoms in her daughter's behaviour, such as bed-wetting, disturbed sleep, lack of self-confidence, intense fear, absent-mindedness and loss of concentration, and quickness to anger and agitation. After sitting with the girl and studying her case, it emerged that her uncle was sexually harassing her against her will, and that when she tried to stop him he would threaten and beat her. Because her father was not understanding, the girl was afraid to tell him, believing that he would cut off her head.
After diagnosing the girl's condition, the Centre's specialists treated her by bringing the mother into the treatment plan, making her aware of the sexual exploitation happening to her daughter and of her own central part in treating her and protecting her from harm, and persuading her to have her daughter medically examined. Sessions of emotional release were also held for the girl through relaxation, learning ways and means of protection, reassurance, positive reinforcement, counselling and guidance, acquiring positive behaviours, positive self-talk, and gaining new social skills.
In an interview with Iman Abu Saeed, coordinator of the project "A protective environment for children against sexual exploitation and harassment", she said that the project's idea represents a major challenge to the culture of conservative Palestinian society, and that when the project began we had no doubt that we would face many difficulties. The first difficulty the project faced was raising this sensitive subject with full seriousness and courage, and the last was discovering cases of children who were victims of sexual harassment. At the start, embarrassment was plain on parents' faces at the mere mention of the words "sexual harassment", as though we were speaking of things contrary to decency and morals.
She went on to say: that was at the beginning, but once the subject is pursued and its importance explained, parents begin to engage with it greatly, as though a flood of information they were not used to hearing had come down on them from the sky. You find them constantly asking questions, or recounting stories they have heard or that happened to them personally. Parents' thirst for more information was striking, as though a closed door had been opened before them so that they could speak of what was on their minds.
At the close of the project, Abu Saeed recommended that parents attend to their children and educate them on matters of sex education, answering their questions properly; that parents educate themselves about sexual matters and about harassment so that they are able to answer; and that, if they notice symptoms in a child, they turn to specialists to help them resolve the problems.
Her recommendations to children were to beware of strangers; to shout and call for help if they feel in danger; to distinguish between a good touch and a bad touch; to tell their families about any situation they have been in that made them uncomfortable; and not to keep such secrets from their parents or their counsellor.
She continued: among the recommendations for school specialists is to work on spreading awareness of the subject among pupils, and on how they can protectthemselves. As for the media, the recommendation was that they take an interest in the subject and give it greater prominence in order to spread awareness among parents.
The project coordinator concluded by stressing to legal professionals that they bear great responsibilities, among them not neglecting these cases and demanding the harshest penalties for those who harass children, so that deterrence is achieved.
