Ref:
32/2011

The
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) Democratic Development Unit (DDU) organized
two new panel discussions on women’s political participation and the right to
freedom of opinion and expression in cooperation with local civil society
organizations in Gaza City and in al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza
Strip.
 

On
Thursday morning, 19 May 2011, PCHR organized a meeting in cooperation with the
Creative Woman Society (CWS) in CWS’s office in Gaza city with 22 CWS activists
in attendance. Salah Abu Hatab, a social
activist, presented a working paper titled “Women’s Political
Participation.” Then participants were given the opportunity to engage in
discussions on women’s political participation.

Earlier,
PCHR organized a meeting in the office of al-Maghazi Cultural Center (MCC) in
al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip with 17 MCC activists in
attendance. Mahmoud al-Efranji, a researcher
at DDU, presented a working paper on “The Right to Freedom of Opinion and
Expression under PNA Rule.” The participants were then given the
opportunity to engage in discussions on the concept of the freedom of opinion
and expression, international standards and domestic laws guaranteeing and regulating
the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the situation of the right
to freedom of opinion and expression over the past period in the Gaza Strip and
the West Bank, especially in view of the political fragmentation experienced in
the Palestinian National Authority. 

These
two meetings are part of a 3-year project, funded by the European Union and
Oxfam Novib, whose goal is to improve awareness and respect of human rights in
the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  Such meetings are part of extensive efforts made by PCHR to
promote democratic awareness in the Palestinian society under the lack of the
Palestinians’ trust in the democratic process due to the political
fragmentation and its consequences.