Ref: 49/2018
On Thursday, 06 December 2018, the Women’s Unit at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a series of legal awareness lectures on violence against women and girls within its activities as part of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to End Violence against Women and Girls, by organizing a lecture at ‘Ali Ben Abi Taleb Secondary School for Girls.
The lectures’ program included 7 awareness lectures at schools belonging to the eastern Gaza Directorate: al-Ramlah School, Fahed al-Ahmed al-Sabbah School, al-Zahra’a School, ‘Ali Ben Abi Taleb School, al-Sheja’eyah (B) School, Dalal al-Moghrabi School and Hashem ‘Ata al-Shawa School. The lectures targeted 300 of the 11th grade students.
Mona al-Shawa, Head of PCHR’s Women’s Unit, emphasized that this is the second year PCHR targets the girls’ high schools. Last year, the Women’s Unit organized legal awareness lectures in schools belonging to the Western Gaza Directorate. Al-Shawa said that targeting high schools is very important as the girls’ category is marginalized and does not receive that much attention.
The lectures received great response from teachers and students, who positively interacted with the topic. They also demanded that more lectures on violence and women’s rights shall be held.
Majedah Shehahdah, a researcher at the Women’s Unit, who participated in giving these lectures, pointed out that working with high schools is rich and important experience because this category is both directly and indirectly exposed to violence. Shehahdah indicated that it is important to raise awareness among female students on violence and acquaint them with its forms and the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to End Violence against Women and Girls in addition to how to face violence in case one of them was subjected to one of its forms.
