The workshop examined and discussed the deliberate deprivation of medical care for women during pregnancy and childbirth in the context of armed conflicts, conceptualizing it as a complex form of gender-based violence due to its direct targeting of women’s bodies, dignity, and their rights to health and life. At the same time, the workshop addressed the legal paradox surrounding the classification of this pattern of violations, between its treatment as a violation within the framework of gender-based violence and the growing trend in international law to view it as a new form of international crime, particularly when it is carried out systematically or employed as a tool of warfare.

This workshop forms part of a series of activities implemented by the Palestinian Institute for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, as part of its efforts to create multidisciplinary academic spaces, deepen dialogue on contemporary legal and humanitarian issues related to the Palestinian context, and strengthen the linkage between legal knowledge and human rights practice. This workshop was held  as a part of the activities of Institute’s establishment project, funded by the European Union.