Ref: 78/2012

On Tuesday morning, 26 September 2012, the delegation of the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) started meetings of IADL’s
Executive Committee in the head office of the Palestinian Center for Human
Rights (PCHR).  Mr. Raji Sourani,
Director of PCHR, is participating in these meetings in his capacity as Member
of IADL’s Executive Committee.

PCHR received the delegation, which is comprised of 17 lawyers, who
visit the Gaza Strip for the first time. 
They will stay in the Gaza Strip until 29 September 2012.

This evening, the international delegation will started a number of
intensive activities organized for its members by PCHR to allow them to know
more about the current situation in the Gaza Strip.  These activities will begin with a meeting
with representatives of human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip, which
will be followed by a meeting with PCHR’s Board of Directors and a number of
academics, human rights defenders, jurists and representatives of
international, women and media organizations. 

In the upcoming days, the delegation will meet with government
officials, international and relief organizations, professors and students of
the faculties of law in Palestinian universities and representatives of
political factions.  They will also
participate in a seminar and a field tour. 

It is worth noting that this visit followed a decision by IADL to
hold the meetings of Executive Committee for this year in the Gaza Strip, as an
expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people and in protest against
human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli Occupation Forces.

The IADL, which was founded in 1946, is a non-governmental
organization that has a consultative status at the UN Economic, Social and
Cultural Council and UNESCO.  IADL
members include lawyers throughout the world and a number of national and
regional associations and unions.  Its
goals include, inter alia, ensuring cooperation among lawyers throughout
the world in the field of democratic practice; encouraging respect for, and
maintenance of international peace and security; promoting the independence of
peoples and protesting any restrictions on such independence; defending human
rights and democratic liberties; struggling for the rule of law and the
independence of the judiciary and the legal profession; defending peoples’
rights of development and equality.