The Daily Star - New guidelines aim to help NGOs deal with domestic violence cases - April 9, 2011

April 09, 2011 12:00 AM

By Simona Sikimic

The Daily Star

BEIRUT: A set of guidelines detailing operating procedures for NGOs and social workers dealing with cases of domestic abuse were released Friday. The “Code of conduct for organizations supporting women victims of gender-based violence” will now be distributed to organizations. The booklet will help create a “unifying vision and objectives, unifying principles and regulations” while outlining the necessary “skills” of those working with victims in addition to the “rights and responsibilities of the beneficiaries,” said Joumana Merhi Nassar, president of the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering. Authored by a range of Lebanese and Palestinian multifaith and secular women’s rights groups, the new strategy is backed by the Social Affairs Ministry and funded by the Italian Embassy. It is accompanied by two other publications on domestic and gender violence, also released Friday, which detail the previous experience of social workers, as well as provide summarized information about the various services and groups fighting the problem, thought to affect all socio-economic groups, irrespective of age or marital status. “The persistence of physical and psychological abuse is one of the main obstacles to achieving the goal of [equal rights and opportunities between men and women],” said Italian Ambassador Guiseppe Morabito. Lebanon ratified the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1996 but has not adopted the treaty in full, opting out of clauses that would abolish personal status laws, which currently govern issues relating to marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance. The country has also failed to enact laws specifically prohibiting domestic violence, although draft legislation on the matter is pending, Morabito said. Patriarchal structures, prevalent in many parts of the globe, including the west as well as across all of Lebanon’s various sects and religions, has created a situation where few dare to speak out. “Most of the women and girls are financially dependent … and they cannot bear the loss of home, security … and children,” said Morabito. “[But] more organizations are concentrating their efforts to fight [domestic] violence. More and more women are speaking up to defend their human rights and men are starting to participate in the fight to end gender violence.” The struggle will have an additional knock-on effect on the protection of child rights, another major issue that has thus far proved difficult to tackle because much of the neglect happens behind closed doors, Morabito added. The involvement of Palestinian NGOs in the newly released reports on gender violence has been heralded as an important step. “We cannot be selective about giving rights to women by giving rights to Lebanese women just because they have citizenship and are not refugees,” said Leila al-Ali, director of Lebanese NGO Najdeh. “[All women living in Lebanon] are victims of religious personal status law.” The publications are a “pioneer initiative” in Lebanon which will coordinate the work of the Social Affairs Ministry and civil society groups and help “improve the services provided to women victims of violence,” said Zoya Rouhana, executive director of NGO Kafa (Enough Violence and Exploitation), which spearheaded research for the three booklets.