After Geneva and The Hague, Berlin is Third and Final Stage of Educational Tour for PCHR’s Lawyers
Ref: 45/ 2018
The lawyers and trainees of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded their European tour in Berlin by holding a meeting in the headquarter of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) that hosted them for a full day during which 6 sessions were held on different topics related to the law and international legislation and human rights.
These sessions addressed various topics and each of Marie Badarane; Linde Bryk; Prof. Dr. Chantal Meloni, Senior Legal Advisor for the International Crimes and Accountability Program, and Lawyer Andreas Schuller, spoke about PCHR’s work, strategy, relationships and the experiment of joint work between PCHR and ECCHR.
PCHR’s delegation stressed on the importance of cooperation and joint work with the international partners to defend victims and achieve fairness and justice for them by using all mechanisms, including mechanisms of international justice.
PCHR and the participating lawyers displayed their training experiment within the Bertha Justice Fellowship Program.
At the end of the meeting, some of the former trainee lawyers from different areas around the world reviewed their experiment and the files they were trained on, highlighting how this experiment and training affected their career.
It should be noted that in light of the Legal Unit , PCHR organizes a program that works, within its programs, on the exchange educational program, which continues for 2 years through which 6 young and distinguished lawyers are trained on transferring the experiment that PCHR practiced since its establishment and until now in legal defense of Palestinian civilian victims and how to use international justice in achieving the law, fairness and victims. This program is the third of the educational exchange organized by PCHR and sponsored by Bertha Justice Foundation, which is based in London. Bertha Justice Foundation also supports other organizations similar to PCHR around the world and practice networking between these organizations so that the experience, experiment and knowledge are deepened.
PCHR’s lawyers started their training program on 20 November 2018, and ended on Sunday, 02 December 2018. The program included visits and meetings in each of The Hague, Geneva and Berlin.
PCHR’s delegation of lawyers began their educational program with visits and meetings, including a visit to the headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and be acquainted with its divisions. On 22 November 2018, PCHR’s delegation visited the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) where a joint workshop was held on the procedures of criminal investigation into international crimes. The workshop was attended by Colonel Desmond Travers and Criminal Investigation Expert, Chris Cobb-Smith. On 23 November 2018, the educational tour was concluded by a visit to the Headquarter of International Court of Justice and the head office of Palestine Mission in The Hague where the delegation met with Palestine’s Ambassador Rawan Suleiman. The meeting discussed the latest developments in Palestine’s file before the ICC.
On 26 November 2018, PCHR’s delegation started their second visit in Geneva by meeting the United Nations Independent Commission to investigate the Israeli violations during protests in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The meeting reviewed all the attacks carried out by Israeli forces in the Great March of Return and Breaking Siege activities in violation of the rules of the international human rights and humanitarian laws. After that the delegation had a tour inside the UN corridors.
On the same day, the delegation met with Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, at her office in Wilson Palace. On Tuesday, 27 November 2018, the delegation met with a number of Special Rapporteurs within their educational tour as part of non-contractual mechanisms of the human rights system.
Among other things, PCHR praises the support of Bertha Justice Foundation for this educational tour, which puts the trainee lawyers in new horizons that enable them combine between theory and practice, adding a fourth dimension to the training the lawyers receive in the field and at PCHR,
