Ref: 43/2021

Date: 15 August 2021

On Sunday, 15 August 2021, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded the elections of Palestine’s National Children Council- Gaza Strip 2021 by electing the secretary of the National Council comprised of the president, 2 deputies, and 10 members from the chiefs and deputy chiefs of Gaza Strip governorates’ councils.

The General Assembly for Children comprised of 120 children that were elected according to certain criteria codified in the Statue of Palestine’s Children Council- the Gaza Stirp participated in the elections in partnership with Save the Children and in coordination with 30 child community organizations as well as parent councils in schools.  Twenty four children from each governorate participated in the elections. 

An election commission was formed to supervise the elections at all stages starting from nomination and receiving candidates’ requests to electioneering, voting, counting votes and announcing the final results.  The Commission consisted of 7 members: 2 from PCHR; 2 from Civil Society Organizations; 2 from the children; and a member of the parent council under overall supervision of the Central Elections Commission’s (CEC) Regional Office in the Gaza Strip. 

The elections were held in 2 stages.  During the first stage, governorates’’ councils were elected as each council consisted of 7 children from each governate, and each president and deputy in each governorate are secretary members of Palestine’s Children Council- Gaza Strip.

During the second stage that was held today in the morning, the secretarial elections for the Palestine’s National Children Council were held as the president, 2 deputies and 10 members representing the chiefs and deputies of the five governorates’’ councils.  The elections were democratically and freely held in a highly competitive atmosphere. The number of candidates running for presidency of the council was 9 while the number for first and second deputies

was 17. 

After a tie vote, Sama Ahmed Abu Leila from Rafah City and Zainab al-Hawraa’ Ahmed Abu Salamah from Northern Gaza won the presidency of the council  respectively for a year for each until new elections are held in 2023.

Hakim Raed Fatouh, from Gaza, won First Vice-President, and Nada al-Aloul, from Rafah, won Second Vice-President; the following were elected as members: Madlyn Kayed Attallah, Shafiqa Zaher Abduljawad, Baker Mahmoud Saleh, Mohammed Sameer Abdulqader, Toqa Mohammed Abu-Taima, Majd Marwan Qudaih, Riham Jamal al-Mughaiar, and Mohammed Talal Abu-Sharkh.

The election ceremony was marvelous and it was attended by the General Assembly for Children and children’s families, representatives of CSOs and CBOs, prominent figures, and covered by several media outlets.

PCHR Director, Mr. Raji Sourani, commenced the ceremony by welcoming and thanking those in attendance, and he expressed his joy to witness the elections for the first Palestine’s National Children Council- Gaza Strip, at a time when the general Palestinian democratic process remains in limbo.

Sourani added that these elections ought to be used to pressure decision makers to organize local, union, and general elections, proving that it is not an impossible task as evident in the elections held today. He emphasized his pride in the children who managed to organize a national council and successfully perform free and fair elections at such a young age.

For his part, Engineer Ali Shaqalih – Save the Children, that the elections for Palestine’s National Children Council- Gaza Strip comes within PCHR project “Strengthen child participation, child rights monitoring, reporting and accountability to child rights,” funded by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) in partnership with Save the Children. He added that this Council will merge with Palestine’s National Children Council – West Bank to form the National Child Council in Palestine.

The winners of Council Chair, Ms. Sama Abu Leila and Zainab al-Hawraa’ Abu Salamah, spoke in conclusion of the ceremony and thanked the General Assembly for Children for the trust endowed upon them with this office, stressing their commitment to work jointly to promote child rights, expose and report violations, and to enable them to lead and hold those elected accountable. They both emphasized that they consider being elected to office as a chance to serve, and that they will exert all efforts in cooperation with the General Assembly to reach a society where all children enjoy their legal guaranteed rights.

The ceremony included several folklore and artistic shows, including Dabka.