PCHR Concludes Training Crouse in Human Rights and DemocracyRef: 22/2019
On Thursday, 25 April 2019, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training course in human rights and democracy. The 15-hour course was held during the period 22 – 25 April 2019, and attended by 25 students representing the Faculty of Law at al-Azhar University in Gaza, as part of PCHR’s long-term efforts to disseminate the culture of human rights and democracy among the university students and enhance their legal and human rights skills. The closing ceremony was attended by Dr. Seif al-Deen al-Bal’awy, Dean of the Faculty of Law at al-Azhar University in Gaza, Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, ‘Abed al-Elah Eshtewi, a lecturer at al-Azhar University in Gaza, and ‘Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Director of PCHR’s Training Unit.
The course focused on a number of topics relevant to democracy and human rights to meet the needs of the targeted group, including an introduction to human rights, the International Bill of Human Rights (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights); Political Participation; Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and basic concepts in international humanitarian law.
A team of PCHR’s trainers supervised the training sessions. The team included ‘Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Director of PCHR’s Training Unit; Mohammed ‘Atallah, a trainer at PCHR; Sharif Abu Nassar, lawyer at PCHR’s Legal Unit; Ahlam al-Aqra’, lawyer at PCHR’s Legal Unit; Majedah Shehadah, a Researcher at PCHR’s Women’s Unit; and Mohammed Abu Hashem, a legal researcher at PCHR.
At the end of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony. Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, emphasized that “these courses come as part of PCHR’s work in training and raising awareness of university students, especially law students. He also expressed his hopes that this cooperation will continue in the service of students in the field law, stressing the keenness of PCHR to organize such courses for students to raise their competencies and develop their capabilities in human rights by providing them with the knowledge of the mechanisms that can be followed to defend and develop their rights to create real change in society.” Sourani also said that the Palestinian human rights movement added a fourth dimension relevant to its work in documenting human rights violations, building legal files and prosecuting war criminals, and this represents a state of human superiority to defend human rights. Sourani stressed that PCHR’s doors will always be open to participants in order to benefit from PCHR’s experience regarding what they have learnt, urging participants to transfer what they learned in the course to their peers for the dissemination of interest.
Dr. Seif al-Deen al-Bal’awy, Dean of the Faculty of Law at al-Azhar University in Gaza, thanked and appreciated PCHR for its pioneering role in disseminating and promoting the culture of human rights. He clarified that “PCHR has accumulated experience and deep knowledge of the long years of working in this field.” He highlighted the continued relationship between the university and PCHR and the importance to develop it in order to serve university students and to continue holding similar training courses, which help students to develop their theoretical knowledge and impart scientific and practical skills in human rights, to create real change in their attitudes.
The participants stressed that the course was characterized with its rich topics and contributed to raising participants’ awareness of human rights; trainers’ efficiency and various and interactive training methods used in the course.
At the end of the course, all participants received certificates.
