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Israel: Update and Follow-up to ISR41436.E of 5 May 2003 on violence against women

Rape

In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate on 16 September 2003, the Director of The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCC) stated that a law was enacted recently, which forces convicted rapists to serve at least one quarter of their sentence.

When asked about statistics on rape, the Director indicated that the police receive approximately 6,000 new reports annually of severe sexual assault cases (i.e., incest, gang rape, etc.) (ARCC 16 Sept. 2003).

The Director said that there are ten rape crisis centres in Israel that operate under the Association, one independent Arabic centre in Haifa, and a new independent Arabic centre for Palestinian women in Jerusalem (ibid.). All of these centres receive approximately 20 per cent of their budget from the government welfare office, except for the centre that caters to Palestinian women (ibid.). That centre has decided not to accept government funding (ibid.). Funding of rape crisis centres was to be reduced by the government this year, but the prime minister directed the government treasury against this move (ibid.).

The Director also stated that the Information Leaflet for the Victims of Sexual Attack, which was published in 1994 and prepared by the Ministry of Police and the ARCC was only printed once (ibid.). When all of the leaflets were handed out, additional copies were not printed for financial reasons (ibid.). Consequently, at present, victims do not receive any written information from the police (ibid.).However, the ARCC is currently running a project whereby its personnel escort female victims through the entire criminal process, providing them with support and information (ibid.).

The Director also added that the contents of the Information Leaflet for the Victims of Sexual Attack with the exception of some of the telephone numbers of the centres, continue to be correct, accurate, valid and relevant today (including procedures and victim rights) (17 Sept. 2003).

Domestic Violence

In March 2001, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon indicated that domestic violence in Israel was an "'epidemic'" which was "indicative of 'grave social phenomenon'" (Ha'aretz 26 Mar. 2001).

To address the problem of domestic violence, the government set up a ministerial committee, which includes the government coordinator on social affairs, the public security minister, the social affairs minister, and the ministers of finance, education, law, interior, industry, science and two ministers who did not have a portfolio (ibid.). According to Ha'aretz, the mandate of the committee is to

prepare a national plan for combating violence in all its forms, to monitor the dimensions of violence and crime and investigate their characteristics, to guarantee coordination between law enforcement agencies, the courts and other agencies that deal with violence, and to prepare a plan for the schools - against violence and for respecting the law (ibid.).

The government also intended to add 30 additional prosecutors "to speed up the legal process" and between two and three additional attorneys to the state attorney's office "to coordinate a nationwide plan" (ibid.). Information on whether these plans were implemented could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

For the text of the "Prevention of Family Violence Law," 1991, and its 1997 and 1998 amendments, please refer to the attachment.

Please refer to the attached statistics obtained by the Research Directorate from the Israel Women's Network (IWN) on the incidence of violence against women in Israel.

According to a letter to the Research Directorate from the IWN, an independent, non-partisan and non-profit organization established in 1984 to promote the status of women in Israel in all areas through education, research, public-political activities, the initiation of legislation and monitoring of its enforcement, the following recourse and assistance to domestic violence victims is available in Israel (IWN 15 May 2003):

Issuing a protection order

The Law provides for the distancing of a violent family member from the home by means of a protection order issued by the court, which may be issued ex parte. According to the Law, a request may be filed to prohibit the violent family member from carrying weapons or from removing objects from the home.

Shelters for battered women

Several cities in Israel offer special shelters for victims of domestic violence and many cities also operate emergency and treatment services. Municipalities and local councils as well as social welfare agencies refer women to shelters.

Absenteeism of a woman staying at a shelter for battered women

According to the law, absence from work of a woman staying at a shelter for a period specified by Law will be considered an unpaid vacation.

On June 2002, the Knesset passed draft legislation entitling a woman residing in a shelter for at least thirty days to an adaptation grant for purchasing personal effects.

Prohibition to dismiss a female employee staying at a shelter

An employer is prohibited from dismissing a woman staying at a shelter for battered women during her absence or thirty days following the end of her absence period, unless authorized by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. The Minister will not authorize dismissal resulting from a woman's residence in a shelter.

Resignation entitling severance pay

According to the Law, resignation of a female employee as a result of her stay at a shelter will be considered dismissal if the employee resided at the shelter for at least sixty days prior to her resignation (ibid.).

The IWN also provided the following information in respect of shelters for battered women:

Thirteen shelters for battered women and their children currently operate in Israel under the supervision of the Unit for the Treatment of Women and Young Girls in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The shelters are designed to provide immediate physical protection to women and their children as well as support and empowerment, legal counsel and counseling. They also aim to prepare women for independent life without violence outside the shelter. One shelter is exclusively designed for Arab women and is operated by a team of professional Arab women. This does not connote however that Arab women and their children cannot turn to other shelters. An additional shelter for Arab women and their children is planned to be built this year (2002).

Shelters for battered women treated 643 women and 913 children in 2001. Despite the additional shelter for Arab women, [there was a] moderately declining trend in the number of women and children treated by shelters in 2001. Approximately 10% of the women lived in the special shelter for Arab women and the total share of Arab and Muslim women living in shelters among all women treated at shelters reached 27.8%. As of 2001, the State, shelters receive their entire budget from municipalities and local councils - 100% of the 'service basket' determined for each shelter.

Transitional housing is another means of treating battered women and their children. These apartments constitute a continuation of the rehabilitation process - a transition stage from the protection, support and treatment of the shelter to independent life in the community, with the assistance of social workers and accompanied by occupational training. A comparison of 1999 to 2001 data ... indicates a decline in the number of transitional housing settings as well in the number of women and children treated within these frameworks. This decline continues a trend, which began in 1999 (ibid.).

Female Migrants

For information on female migrants who have been trafficked into the sex trade, and their treatment by the government and law enforcement personnel, please refer to the attached 1999 article entitled "How the Sex Trade Becomes a Slave Trade: The Trafficking of Women in Israel" from Middle East Report, as well as to the attached text of the testimony of the head of the legal department of the Hotline for Migrant Workers in Israel, which was made in April 2002 before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the United States House of Representatives.

Causes of Violence Against Women

According to Penina Rosenblum, leader of Tnufa Party, which advocates women's rights and social reforms, "'women are simply not treated as equals in Israel's chauvinist society'" (The Middle East International Apr. 1999).

The Police

While referring to a meeting in January 2001 between the new police chief, Shlomo Aharonishky, and the director of the authority for the advancement on the status of women, Ronit Lev-Ari, Ha'aretz reported that "the new police chief sees the issue of violence against women as one of primary concern" (5 January 2001). However, according to a recent article published in The Jerusalem Post, trafficking of women and rape, among other criminal behaviour, "have all taken a back seat in the past three years to Palestinian violence. And the understaffed and over-stressed Israeli police is struggling to catch up with the criminals" (20 Aug. 2003).

The police attitude towards victims of rape, according to the director of the ARCC, has improved, although this still depends on the amount of training given to the police worker (16 Sept. 2003). In general however, the police have become more sensitive to rape victims (ibid.).

The police receive some training on the handling of rape cases at the beginning of their career, but due to budgetary and financial restrictions, there is no on-going training for police workers (ibid.). The only training given is provided by the ARCC (ibid.).

In its most recent periodic report, which was submitted to the United Nations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Israeli government stated the following in respect of police attitudes towards violence against women:

In 1998, an evaluation study on Police Intervention in Intimate Violence was commissioned by the Ministry of Internal Security. ...[A] thorough analysis of the policemen's own attitudes and perceptions of violence against women within the family revealed that the professed goals of the police in the area of domestic violence are not fully achieved (UN 16 Nov. 2001, 44).

According to the 1998 study,

... 7.7% of the police personnel agree that "sometimes the woman deserves to be beaten," 9.3% believe that "a man is allowed to beat his wife only if she cheats on him," 17% believe that "a woman who keeps quiet, will forestall beatings from herself," and 26% believe that "sometimes, the woman causes the man to beat her" (ibid., 45).

Of those police workers surveyed, 75 per cent believed that the police has a "duty to arrest a man who beats his wife" and 87 per cent indicated that they "routinely arrest the man when arriving to the place where violence against the woman took place" (ibid., 44). In addition, 71 per cent of police workers agreed that battering men should be forced to receive some sort of treatment, but "referrals to treatment, in any stage of the proceedings, were made in only 8% of the cases" (ibid.).

The survey also found that only 57 per cent of police workers surveyed indicated that they were "well-versed with the laws in this area [violence against women]" (ibid., 45).

In respect of the processing and handling of files involving violence against women, the survey revealed that there was an "overall neglect" (ibid.). In this regard, the survey found that in 6 per cent of the case files analysed, there was no testimony of the victim, and in 61 per cent of the files, "there was no certification of the complaint filed" (ibid.).

The state report submitted to the United Nations under CEDAW however, did indicate that "gradual progress has been made" in the handling of domestic violence cases by the police (ibid.). For instance, there are at least two investigators specializing in domestic violence in each police station, totalling 120 such positions across the country (ibid.). Nine of these positions are reserved for Arab female investigators in stations that serve the Arab community (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCC), Jerusalem. 16 September 2003. Telephone interview with the Director.
_____. 17 September 2003. Telephone interview with the Director.

Ha'aretz [Tel Aviv]. 26 March 2001. "Government Establishes Domestic Violence Committee." (Dialog)
_____. 5 January 2001. "Police Vow Domestic Violence is Priority." (Dialog)

Israel Women's Network (IWN). 15 May 2003. Correspondence from the Resource Center Coordinator.

The Jerusalem Post. 20 August 2003. "Israel: Police Data Confirms Rise in Violence, Organized Crime." (FBIS-NES-2003-0820 21 Aug. 2003/Dialog)

Middle East International [London]. April 1999. No. 289. "Israel Election Update."

United Nations (UN), Division for the Advancement of Women. 16 November 2001. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: Third Periodic Reports of States Parties: Israel. (CEDAW/C/ISR/3). <http://ods-dds-ny.un.org> [Accessed 16 Sept. 2003]

Attachments

Israel Women's Network (IWN). 15 May 2003. "Prevention of Family Violence Law, 5751-1991." Correspondence from the Resource Center Coordinator.
_____. 15 May 2003. "Statistics on the Incidence of Violence Against Women in Israel." Correspondence from the Resource Center Coordinator.

Middle East Report [Washington, DC]. Spring 1999. No. 211. Anya Stone. "How the Sex Trade Becomes a Slave Trade: The Trafficking of Women in Israel"

United States (US), House of Representatives. 24 April 2002. Subcommittee on Internaitonal Operations and Human Rights. "Trafficking in Women in Israel." <http://wwwa.house.gov/international_relations/107/leve0424.htm> [Accessed 16 Sept. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

The Middle East. January 1999 - August/September 2003.

Middle East International. 15 January 1999 - 22 August 2003.

Middle East Report. Spring 1999 - Summer 2003.

Internet site:

BBC

Israel, Ministry of Justice

Topics: Violence against women, SGBV,