Ref: 11/2009

Date: 18 May 2009

PCHR Organizes a Workshop on the Right to Peaceful Assembly under PNA Rule

On Monday, 18 May 2009, PCHR Democratic Development Unit (DDU) organized, in cooperation with the National Association for Democracy and Law (NADL), a workshop on “the Right to Peaceful Assembly under the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).” The workshop took place in NADL’s office with the participation of approximately 25 university students, new graduates and volunteers in civil society organizations.

This workshop is a part of a series of activities organized by PCHR, in cooperation with other civil society organizations, intended to enhance and develop democracy in Palestinian society. These meetings and workshops aim to raise public awareness with regard to democratic principles and to enhance these principles in Palestinian society. Such measures are essential in light of Palestinian civilians’ deteriorating trust in the democratic process in recent years. This deterioration is attributable to the international community’s boycott of the results of the Palestinian legislative elections of January 2006 and the internal political fragmentation and its destructive impacts on the Palestinian national cause.

Salah Abu Hatab, social activist, facilitated this workshop. Mahmoud al-Efranji, a researcher in PCHR’s DDU, presented a paper on the right to peaceful assembly. The workshop was concluded with an open discussion on the principle of peaceful assembly, international standards and domestic laws regulating the organization of peaceful assembly, and the status of the right to peaceful assembly under PNA rule.