Middle East:EU Study, Domestic Violence Between 40%, 75%

BRUSSELS - Violence against women in the home is the main emergency needed to be tackled by the Mediterranean's southern shores. The phenomenon affects between 40% and 75% of married women, who suffer mainly at the hands of their husbands. This is the glaring figure contained in a study carried out by the Euromed Gender Equality Programme (EGEP), which has been presented at a conference held in Brussels. The 'Programme to enhance quality between men and women in the Euromed Region', which is financed by the European Union as part of neighbourhood policy, focussed on nine partner countries between 2008 and 2011: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia. "The spread of domestic violence among a figure between 40% and 75% of women is not an overestimate," says Florence Raes, a team leader at EGEP. "There have been interesting investigations into this, the most recent in Morocco, and others have been carried out in the Palestinian Territories and in Syria. Indeed, they all show figures of above 50% and have an impact on emancipation and on the employment market. Women do not leave the house to go to work covered in bruises". The report stresses that the problem is particularly acute in Jordan, where almost seven out of ten women have been the subject of some form of domestic violence, while the figure in Lebanon is over two thirds. Full Story>>

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