How many Palestinians are being sexually abused by aid workers?

The UN's OCHA issued a press release listing the humanitarian activities implemented  in Jenin after Israel's raid earlier this month.

As you would expect, the text discusses topics like providing water, food, shelter and psychological support to residents of the camp affected by the fighting. 

Some of the support they are sending, however, indicates that the media reporting on Palestinian issues in the territories is very skewed.

For example:

A mine action expert has conducted two training sessions on explosive ordnance risks (EOR), targeting 30 UNRWA staff in Jenin camp to reduce community exposure to UXO threats and promote safety. 

Outside of my own, I have not seen a single article in the media that discusses how Palestinian terrorists are endangering their own people by burying huge IEDs in the ground for IDF vehicles. 

But aid workers know. Which is why reports like this can be used to glean a lot of information that the media choses to downplay or ignore. 

The report implies that there is an uptick in violence against women and sexual abuse in the wake of the raid: (GBV is "gender based violence".)

Partners specializing in GBV response have, on average, provided medical services and psychosocial support (PSS) to 50 women per day.

One partner has sent social workers to Jenin to reinforce the provision of PSS.

A hotline based in Nablus is receiving daily calls and has provided online PSS.

UNRWA is ensuring ongoing safe identification and referral of cases needing more specialized counselling and follow-up (including for people exposed to GBV or sexual exploitation and abuse).

Partners responding to GBV have sent psychosocial support teams to Jenin camp, to assess the needs and provide services. Two nationwide hotlines are available to support women who seek support in response to GBV. The GBV Sub-Cluster has informed women and girls of available services.

If 50 women are being counseled on gender based violence every day, that indicates that hundreds of Palestinian women may be subject to violence and sexual abuse. 

We know this is true, NGO reports have mentioned - although rarely highlighted - the huge amount of violence that Palestinian women endure from their fathers and husbands. A 2019 survey showed that 29% of Palestinian married women had experienced some form of GBV by their husbands in the previous twelve months, including 18% being subjected to physical violence and 9% to sexual violence. 

Palestinian Arab men use an Israeli raid as an excuse to abuse their wives.

But even that is not the most troubling fact to emerge from reading between the lines of this report. It also says:

In coordination with UNRWA, SAWA ...has been actively educating the affected population about the importance of accessing confidential reporting channels. This effort aims to empower people to report any misconduct or wrongdoing by humanitarian workers, ensuring a safe and accountable environment for everyone.

Misconduct by medical workers is rampant enough to prompt NGOs to pro-actively educate people on how to report it? They are paying for commercial spots on the radio. 

What kinds of misconduct could this be? 

UNRWA publishes this poster about its zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse by its staff.

In other contexts, sexual abuse by humanitarian aid workers have been well reported. But finding specific statistics on how often this happens in the territories is not easy. The Palestinian and international media is clearly not interested in reporting about it.

What we do know is that a lot of NGOs are  spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and assigning scores of workers and "focal points"  to fight this abuse against Palestinian women and children - that no one is talking about. 

Clearly, there is some serious sexual abuse by UN and other aid workers against Palestinian women and children. The extent of that abuse is not being compiled and reported anywhere as far as I can tell. But these organizations wouldn't be putting this much money and effort into fighting this abuse if it was only a marginal, rare concern. 

 

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