Laila Bakr, Regional Director of the United Nations Population Fund for the Arab Region, said that the destruction of infrastructure and the social fabric as a result of the war in Gaza affects women and girls more negatively than the rest of the population of the Strip.
On the sidelines of the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Ms. Baker participated today, Wednesday, in a virtual event that addressed the impact of the war in Gaza on Palestinian women and children.
While holding back her tears, she opened her speech by saying that “her heart is broken,” stressing that it was difficult for her to participate in the event as a woman, a Palestinian American, and a UN employee who “worked throughout her life on the hope and conviction that peace and prosperity are built on the foundation of justice and equal human values.”
Mrs. Baker stressed that despite the horrific numbers and statistics, they only reflect “part of the injustice and suffering that the people of Gaza and Palestine are suffering from.” She asked participants to imagine what it would be like to be a woman or girl in Gaza today, where 150,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women cannot get their daily intake of calories or water, and where women in labor struggle to reach one of the two remaining semi-functional – and understaffed – hospitals. Exhausted after more than five months of conflict.
The Regional Director said that 1.9 million people are crowded into one small corner of Rafah, stressing that “there is no region on the planet with this population density.” She said people there are vulnerable to disease and the inability to deal with waste, “if they are lucky enough to find food, water and a tent over their heads.”
She added: “Imagine you are a young girl, who has just reached adolescence and you find yourself in your new femininity and unable to deal with menstrual hygiene and other care. Often times, these things are overlooked because they are considered private matters, but I wonder what privacy is.” “In a situation where there is no privacy.”
Mrs. Baker said that women have been socially trained throughout history, and certainly in Palestinian society, to be caretakers of their families and communities. She added: “A woman will prioritize her children, her family, and often times her neighbors, her elderly parents, her elderly in-laws, and others who need the service. If there is a lack of water, privacy, food, medicine, and shelter, you can guarantee that she will prioritize everyone before herself.”
The UN official stressed that all residents of Gaza “are victims of an attack that is unparalleled in its intensity, brutality and scope, and the only way to address this is to call for an immediate ceasefire, not a truce or anything that will not be permanent.” She called on the international community to adhere to international humanitarian law regarding the protection of all civilians, and explained that although women constitute the majority, they are not the total population, calling for the equal protection of all.
