
The youngsters talked about their lives during the lockdowns – “My life was put on hold” -, their expectations as to marriage and relationships – ‘love’ and ‘spending time together’ ranked highest - and their ideas about gender and situations of sexual transgressive behaviour.

In addition to the youth sessions, exchanges took place with the Ministry of Education of the Palestinian National Authority, youth counsellors and UNFPA Jerusalem on the prevention and increase of gender-based violence at school. Karen De Wilde introduced the group to the Sensoa Flag system, an instrument for professional staff and directors to judge, discuss and prevent sexual transgressive behaviour of children and youth. The increase of gender-based violence in Palestinian schools was presented by representatives of the Palestinian Ministry of Education.