In its Protection Monitoring Report for the 2nd quarter of the year 2022, UNRWA reported that:
“Focal points continued to emphasise women and children’s feelings of unsafety, which have remained high. Their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse has been exacerbated by the economic situation, which in some cases was said to have led female family members to stay at home and children to spend more time on the street and/or at places of work. This is particularly critical for female-headed households, in a context where single, divorced or widowed women are particularly vulnerable to all forms of gender-based violence.”
(Source: UNRWA, “UNRWA Protection Monitoring Report – Quarter 2 (Q2) 2022”, 26 August 2022, p. 5)
Refugee Net, which, according to its website, is a “Palestinian Refugee News Network in Lebanon”, published a testimonies by Palestinian refugee women who live unmarried in Lebanon:
“Today, Zahra lives in her sister’s house in Burj al-Barajneh Camp in Beirut, and she does not have any pension or anyone who takes care of her after a long course of struggle, and she has no breadwinner. She says: «I do not regret what I have done in my life, knowing that I did not marry and did not build a family, the country is greater than everything, and for it I did what I did, but it hurts me very much to get here after a long struggle, and I still don’t know why I’m being ignored along with many Palestinian women fighters. We have become like a garment whose owner has outgrown it after a period of time has passed, so it is thrown aside and no one cares about it.»
ORIGINAL SOURCE:
.اهل ليعم لاو ،لاضنلا نم ةليوط ةيرسم دعب ةيتايحلا اهروملأ متهي نم وأ يدعاقت بتار يأ اهيدل سيلو ،تويرب في ةنجابرلا جرب ميخم في اهتخأ تيب في ةرهز مويلا شيعت لىإ لصأ نأ ًادج ينلمؤي نكل ،هب تمق ابم تمق هلجأ نم انأو ،ءشي لك نم بركأ نطولاو ،ةلئاع نبأ لمو جوزتأ لم يننأ ًمالع ،تيايح في هتمدق ام لىع ةمدان تسل انأ« :لوقت
،هيلع نمز رورم دعب هبحاص لىع قيضي يذلا بوثلاك انصر دقل .تلاضانلما تاينيطسلفلا ءاسنلا نم ديدعلاو ليهاجت ببس لهجأ تلز امو ،ةليوط لاضن ةيرسم دعب انه
.»هل ثتركي دحأ دوعي لاو ًابناج ىميرُ ف
(Source: Refugee Net: “I live alone with my chickens”... Forgotten Palestinian women activists in the camps of Lebanon, July 1, 2022)