Dr. Ghazi Hamad, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development in Gaza, visited the “Hayat” Center for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Families, affiliated with The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP), on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. The purpose of the visit was to review the center’s operations and the efforts made to support and protect abused women and their children.

Dr. Hamad was received by Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghuneimi, Director of the Center; Ms. Amal Siam, Director of the Women’s Affairs Center and a member of the advisory committee of the “Hayat” Center; Attorney Ali Al-Din, a member of the Center’s Board of Directors; and the center’s staff.

Dr. Hamad conducted a tour of the center’s various sections: the shelter, the family meeting section, the psychological and social support section, the reception section, the COVID-19 isolation rooms, and the women’s safe space – the latter two having been recently established with the support of UN Women.

Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghuneimi and the heads of departments briefed Dr. Hamad on the center’s work according to the case management system and the operational procedures in shelters. She noted that protection and shelter services were provided to 36 women and girls, and psychological, social, and legal support was given to 867 women and girls, including 381 new cases during 2020 and 486 follow-up cases of women and girls who had files opened in the previous year. In addition, child visitation services and child case management were provided to 42 children.

Dr. Hamad praised the center’s efforts in serving and protecting women, stressing the importance of coordination between the Ministry and organizations working in the field of protection and social support, with the aim of providing integrated services to abused women and women at risk. He also commended the expertise of the staff at the “Hayat” Center, as well as the staff at the Ministry’s Al-Aman House for Social Welfare for Women, in dealing with women in various cases. He emphasized the need to quickly form a joint supervisory committee tasked with developing procedures for receiving cases and working within a unified case management protocol between the “Hayat” Center and Al-Aman House.

Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghuneimi emphasized the importance of collaboration between the center and the Ministry in serving and protecting women, calling for the need to ensure that women visiting the “Hayat” Center benefit from the Ministry’s various services through partnership and coordination, and to follow up on certain cases that require urgent intervention by official authorities.

In response to these demands, Dr. Hamad promised to look into the matter directly, requesting that the center provide lists of the names of abused and impoverished women who are in need of assistance, in accordance with the Ministry’s service provision standards. He also pledged to provide support for emergency cases based on joint work between the two entities, noting the importance of holding a joint meeting that includes relevant parties from the center and the Ministry to discuss ways of cooperation, working on the basis of partnership, and achieving mutual benefit based on trust and respect.

Dr. Hamad also explained that the Ministry is in the process of expanding the scope of protection and care, both for persons with disabilities, with the aim of completing the service cycle and issuing disability cards, and for the establishment of a center for the care of delinquent minor girls under the age of 18, and improving the infrastructure and logistics at the Al-Rabee Institution and the governmental Al-Aman House.

Ms. Amal Siam spoke about the reality of gender-based violence and its increase in the Gaza Strip, and the importance of protection shelters that have succeeded in providing shelter services for women at risk and resolving their problems. Attorney Ali Al-Din also emphasized the need to complete the center’s training for various police agencies and protection units in the police and the prosecution, by forging relationships with ministries to provide the best services to the targeted groups.