Indicator 5: Existence of specific law/s addressing VAWG

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Adopting a specific law to address VAWG has multiple aims. Most importantly, it serves to clearly target all forms of this violence and not to fragment it in dispersed legal texts. As VAWG is multidimensional, combating it is not limited to applying solely a criminal approach. Rather, it requires a comprehensive treatment of the problem, in which the preventive dimension has a core function, as we shall see below. Only two States in the region have adopted a comprehensive approach: Morocco and Tunisia.

Other countries have legal rules criminalizing various acts of VAWG dispersed in several laws. Examples of these laws include the penal code, the nationality laws, family laws and some other specific laws, as the anti-trafficking law in Egypt, and the Jordanian law on electronic crimes.

Countries
Algeria

Algeria

There is no specific law addressing VAWG comprehensively. Main laws relevant to combating the different forms of VAWG include: the penal code of 1966, as amended in 2015 which tightened the punishments on perpetrators of violence against women, the family law as amended in 2005, the nationality law of 2005.

Egypt

Egypt

There is no specific law addressing VAWG comprehensively. Main laws relevant to combating the different forms of VAWG include: the penal code No. 58 of 1937 and its amendments, most recently the amendment by the law No. 5 of 2018, the law No. 154 of 2004 amending the nationality law No. 26 of 1975, the law No. 10 of 2004 on the establishment of family courts, the combating human trafficking law, No. 64 of 2010.

Jordan

Jordan

There is no specific law addressing VAWG. Main laws relevant to combating the different forms of VAWG include: the crime prevention law, No. 7 of 1954, the penal code, No. 16 of 1960 with amendments, the law on protection from domestic violence, No.15 of 2017, the anti- trafficking law, No. 9 of 2009, the personal status law, No. 36, the amendments to law on electronic crimes, No. 27 of 2015, law of the National Council for Family Affairs of 2001.

Lebanon

Lebanon

There is no specific law addressing VAWG comprehensively. Main laws relevant to combating the different forms of VAWG include: the law on the protection of women and family members against domestic violence No. 293 of 2014, the penal code of 1943, the law on punishment for the crime of trafficking in persons No. 164 of 2011.

Morocco

Morocco

There is a specific law addressing VAWG (Law on Combating Violence against Women of 2018). The law includes the four dimensions pertaining to the elimination of violence against women: prevention, protection, prosecution, and support. It increases penalties for some forms of violence in the penal code when committed within the family and establishes new crimes including forced marriage, squandering money or property to circumvent payment of maintenance or other dues arising from a divorce, expelling or preventing a spouse from returning home, and sexual harassment in public spaces as well as cyber harassment. The law does not cover all forms of VAWG such as marital rape (see indicator 4).

Other laws relevant to combating the different forms of VAWG include: the nationality law of 1958, as modified in 2011, the penal code of 1962 last amended in 2019, the family code of 2004, the labour law No. 65.99 of 2011, the anti-trafficking law No. 27.14 of 2016.

Palestine

Palestine

There is no specific law addressing VAWG. Main laws relevant to combating the different forms of VAWG include: the crime prevention law No. 7 of 1954 in the Gaza Strip, the law of family rights of 1954 in the Gaza Strip, the penal code No.16 of 1960 in the West Bank, the personal status law of 1976 in the West Bank.

Tunisia

Tunisia

There is a specific law addressing VAWG (Law on Eliminating Violence against Women of 2017). The law includes the four dimensions pertaining to the elimination of violence against women: prevention, protection, prosecution, and support. The law does not explicitly criminalize marital rape. (See indicator 4).

Other laws relevant to combating different forms of VAWG include: the penal code 1913, the personal status code 1956, the nationality law 1956, the anti-trafficking law of 2016 and the law on elimination of all forms of racial discrimination of 2018.