Report of the UN Secretary-General "Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women" to be considered at the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2017

In March 2017, the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will meet to consider and adopt a resolution regarding the report of the Secretary-General on the "Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women." Each year, the CSW adopts only one country-specific resolution - against Israel.

The Secretary-General's report includes the following:

"64. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, fragmentation of the territory, lack of Palestinian unity, restrictions on access and movement, increased settlement expansion and violence and the closure of Gaza continued to impact negatively on the situation of Palestinian women. In Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains dire. The slow pace of recovery from the 2014 conflict is concerning and has exacerbated many of the protection concerns and challenges faced by women and girls described in previous reports. These include increased psychosocial stress, high unemployment rates, lack of livelihood opportunities, food insecurity, limited access to basic services, poor access to water, sanitation and energy, high rates of violence against women and lack of access to justice...

71... The United Nations should ... utilize the opportunities presented by Security Council resolution 2242 (2015) for bringing violations of human rights and humanitarian law experienced by Palestinian women to the attention of the Security Council, including through the briefings of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process..."