Ref: 45/2020
Date: 19 November 2020
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded on Thursday, 19 November 2020, a training course on “Human Rights and Mechanisms to Promote Right to Health”. The course was attended by 25 medical personnel at primary medical care centers and al-Aqsa Hospital in Central Gaza Strip. The 20-hour-training course was held over the course of 4 days, from 10 – 19 November 2020, it is part of a series of training courses held by PCHR that targeted 200 health sector employees.
This training course is the eighth of its kind in 2020, under the project “Promote, Respect, and Fulfill the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health in the Gaza Strip” implemented by PCHR in partnership with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and funded by the European Union. The project aims to improve access to healthcare; provide legal counseling and legal assistance for Palestinian patients; to disseminate the culture of human rights and humanitarian law, particularly the right to health, by building the capacities of those working in the health sector; and to promote improved monitoring, documenting and reporting of violations of the right to health.
At the end of the course, PCHR held a closing ceremony where lawyer Raji Sourani, PCHR Director, commended the role of medical personnel, who stand in the defense zone in the combat of the coronavirus. Sourani said that the outbreak of the corona pandemic constitutes a serious challenge for health systems in the world, including the Palestinian health system, especially in the Gaza Strip which witnesses a continued deterioration in human rights conditions due to the 14-year long Israeli closure and internal political division and its disastrous implications on the health system. All of these factors portend of a health catastrophe.
Sourani added that the international human rights law ensures every person’s right to the highest attainable standard of health and obliges States to take all measures to prevent endangering public health and provide the required medical care for those who need it. Sourani pointed out that the existing measures and restrictions on rights for the sake of the public health or the national emergency must be legal, necessary and proportionate, and should refrain from broad and compulsory restrictions unless absolutely necessary and scientifically justified. Any restrictions should be paired with mechanisms to support those affected.
Dr. Eyad Al-Jabri, Medical Director of al-Aqsa Hospital, and the hospital’s administration and staff expressed their appreciation for PCHR’s role in disseminating and promoting human rights culture, He add that “PCHR has accumulated experience and profound knowledge in this field,” and praised its work to promote human rights concepts in general and right to health in particular in the Palestinian society. He also commended PCHR’s role in promoting human rights and right to health by following up with all competent authorities for the advancement of the health situation in the Gaza Strip. He emphasized the continued relationship with PCHR and recommended to maintain this outreach to create a society aware of its rights. Al-Jabri also called upon PCHR to hold similar training courses especially that this course was characterized with its rich topics that contributed to raising participants’ awareness of human rights in general and right to health in particular
