Incorporating the principles of gender equality into the penal code of Palestine to combat honour-based violence

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Embargoed until 2021-07-01
Copyright: Omran, Ayah
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Abstract
Honour-based violence is deemed to be an extreme manifestation of women s rights violations throughout the Arab world including Palestine. The connection between the honour phenomenon and Islamic shari a, along with Arab conservative tradition, raises controversy surrounding the genuine origin of this phenomenon and how to combat it. Understanding the phenomenon and how to combat it require taking into account two considerations. First, honour-based violence is a form of gender-based violence that must be combated with the principles of gender equality. Accordingly, the thesis illustrates the prominent approaches to gender equality in the legal process. Highlighting the shortcomings of these approaches shows that both the sameness and differences approaches provide for solutions, rather than providing frameworks to analyse the causes of the problem. However, many contemporary feminist scholars, such as post-colonial feminist scholars, emphasize the universal sisterhood while understanding the specific cultural context of each group of women. Second, it is essential to understand the unique conditions of Palestinian society and the role of honour in the Palestinian social structure. This can be achieved through an intersectionality approach. This approach focuses on intersecting specific social divisions (mainly gender, class, and ethnicity); and the impact of this intersection on the specific phenomenon of gender-based violence. The legitimization of honour violence in the legal process is studied through understanding the intersection of gender, age, ethnicity, and class within the political agendas of the various nationalism projects. The main nationalism projects subject to analysis are the ones which have shaped the legal process in the West Bank: the Jordanian nationalism project that shaped the applied Penal Code No. (16) of 1960 and represents a post-colonial nationalism project, the Palestinian Liberation Organization s nationalism project and the Israeli nationalism project which represent conflict nationalism projects; and the Palestinian state nationalism project which represents a post-conflict nationalism project. The Palestinian and the Israeli projects have shaped the Palestinian draft of the Penal Code of 2011. In other words, understanding the reasons why honour violence is entrenched in the Palestinian legal process comes through analysing the intersection of gender, class, age and ethnicity within post-colonial, conflict and post-conflict nationalism projects. This thesis seeks to answer the main research question which is: How does the legal system in Palestine incorporate principles of gender equality into the Penal Code to combat honour-based violence? The following sub-questions are designed to help answering the main research question: What are the legal dimensions of the problem of honour-based violence? What is the meaning of gender equality in the context of combating honour-based violence in Palestine? What are the manifestations of intersectionality in the Palestinian social structure that are relevant to understanding and addressing honour-based violence? Why and how is the Palestinian legislative process affected by the intersectionality of specific social divisions? What are the stages of the evolution of the concept of honour as a sign of loyalty in the legislative process? Why and how is the Palestinian judicial process affected by the intersectionality of specific social divisions? What is the nature of the relationship between the judiciary and the legislator in entrenching honour-based violence? What legal reforms can contribute to a solution? Answering these questions highlights the stages of honour s evolution as a sign of loyalty that persists in the legal process and reflect the complicit relationship between judges and legislators to entrench honour-based violence in the Palestinian legal system. This understanding is the basis of the suggested reform mechanisms.
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Author(s)
Omran, Ayah
Supervisor(s)
McNamara, Luke
Billingsely, Anthony
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Publication Year
2018
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Type
PhD Doctorate
UNSW Faculty
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