Ref: 13/2019

On Wednesday, 13 March 2019, With participation of 25 male and female volunteers from the northern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and al-Adham Association for Development in Beit Hanoun concluded a training Course on concepts of human rights and democracy.

The 20-hour course was held at PCHR’s training hall in Jabalia from 10-13 March 2019 in light of PCHR’s long-term efforts to disseminate the culture of human rights among the male and female volunteers in civil society organizations.

The training program was specifically designed for the targeted group. It focused on the 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); the two Additional Protocols; Woman Basic Rights according to CEDAW Convention; the right to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly ; basic concepts in international humanitarian law; International Protection of journalists in armed conflicts; in addition to mechanisms of monitoring and documenting international humanitarian law violations.

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; Ahlam al-Aqra’ and Sharif Abu Nassar, lawyers at PCHR’s Legal Unit; Majedah Shehadah, a Researcher at PCHR’s Women’s Unit; and Mohamed Abu Hashem, a legal researcher at PCHR, Mohammed Ghanam, a fieldworker at PCHR, and Aia al-Wakil, a lawyer at PCHR’s Women’s Unit.

At the end of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony, where Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Director of PCHR’s Training Unit, stressed the keenness of PCHR to organize such courses for volunteers to improve their academic and practical skills, develop their knowledge in human rights and be aware of the mechanisms they can follow to defend their rights in order to create real change in society. He emphasized 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.”

Ibtissam al-Bassioni, Director of al-Adham association for development- Beit Hanoun, thanked PCHR for its ongoing cooperation with the association and civil society organizations in the northern Gaza Strip and its role in disseminating and enhancing the concepts of human rights and democracy in the Palestinian society, especially the young generation. She also emphasized the necessary of having an ongoing cooperation to create a society where rule of law and democracy prevail. She also praised PCHR’s pioneering role in disseminating the culture of human rights among all the categories of society.

The participants also stressed that PCHR should continue holding such important and similar courses in this field to outreach other categories of society, especially the northern Gaza Strip.  They added that the course addressed many important topics which they need and would enable them to promote their rights.