HAYA Joint Programme Launches New Media Campaign “Our Services” to Improve Essential Services for Survivors of Violence
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With the aim of raising awareness on the essential services package available to support victims and survivors of gender-based violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the HAYA Joint Programme launched the new media campaign “Our Services” at the end of June 2022.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, sixty-one per cent of married women have been subjected to violence by their husbands, and fifty-three per cent of unmarried young women by a family member. Half of women in Palestine who have experienced violence are unaware of the existence of services provided by governmental bodies and civil society organizations to help them. Only 1.4 per cent of married women request assistance from psychosocial and legal services.
This media campaign will seek to enhance the public’s knowledge of these services, promote their use, and advocate for the improvement of the quality of these services. The campaign will also focus on the importance of men in participating and engaging in efforts to eliminate violence against women. The campaign will continue until the end of 2022, including during the 16-day campaign against violence against women in Palestine.
The campaign will include two activities, done in partnership with Roya Television in Palestine and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the HAYA Joint Programme. The first includes the production of television spots broadcast on the Roya television channel in Palestine and on its social media pages. The second will include the design and publication of social media cards on the various social media platforms of Roya Television in Palestine.
The campaign will also include transit advertisements, billboards, short videos, and radio spots and episodes with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) through the HAYA Joint Programme. Through the campaign, the essential services package for victims and survivors of violence including health care services, justice and policing services, and social services will be promoted among the public
Health-care services are available through the Ministry of Health, that provides services to women and girls subjected to violence who arrive in hospitals and primary health care directorates. Through its family counselling clinics, the Ministry of Health also provides specialized spaces for women and girls victims and survivors of violence to receive psychosocial and health care services, while ensuring their privacy and confidentiality.
Furthermore, the campaign will also highlight the services of the Palestinian Police’s Family and Juvenile Protection Unit that works to enforce the law and protect families from violence by collecting evidence, research, and investigating crimes and their perpetrators under the supervision of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The campaign will also focus on forensic services, that play a vital role in improving the criminal justice system for women, men, and children, through the work of qualified forensic doctors employed by the Public Prosecutor's Office to prove crimes against victims and survivors of violence and help seek justice and ensure punishment for the perpetrators.
“In the HAYA Joint Programme, we are working toward providing greater opportunities for women and girls, who have been subjected to gender-based violence, to access a set of high-quality basic services as this is the core of our work. We seek to raise awareness about these services and work hand-in-hand with service providers to ensure the provision of quality services,” says Hazam Tahbub, Programme Manager for the HAYA Joint Programme.
*Gender-based violence is any violence that arises based on relationships, social roles, and values that society defines for both women and men that causes harm, whether psychological, physical or sexual.