Ref: 28/2020
Date: 30 June 2020
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded on Monday, 29 June 2020, a training course on “Human Rights and Mechanisms to Promote Right to Health.” The 20-hour-training course was held from 24-29 June 2020, with the participation of 25 representatives of 7 private organizations from the health sector in Khan Younis.
This training course is executed within PCHR 3-year project “Promote, Respect, and Fulfill the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health in the Gaza Strip” implemented in partnership with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and funded by the European Union. The project aims to improve access to healthcare, legal counseling and legal assistance for Palestinian patients; to mainstream the culture of international human rights and humanitarian law, particularly the right to health, by building the capacities of those working in the health sector; and to promote improved monitoring, documenting and reporting of violations of the right to health. This course was the 5th out of the planned 8 to be held in 2020, targeting 200 members of the medical personnel and activists in the Gaza Strip.
At the end of the course, PCHR held a closing ceremony where Abdel Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, emphasized that PCHR has given great attention to the right of health issue over the years, especially under its current and continued deterioration, as well that of human rights generally. He stressed that disseminating the culrutre of human rights and the international humanitarian law, particularly the right to health, is the most important output of this training course, through capacity building of 600 health sector personnel, and equip participants with knowledge on the mechanisms available for protecting and promoting their rights to effect real change in society.
Abu Samra added that it is important for organizations to adopt a rights based approach in desigining its programs and policies to fulfil human rights, and emphasized the importance of advancing cooperations between NGOs and PCHR to build the capacity of their staff on human rights issues, especially the right to health, asking participants to spread the knowledge they acquired in their private circles and among their peers.
The participants commended PCHR’s training program and its focus on building the capacities of health sector personnel, to improve access to health services, building their capacity and awareness of the principle of the right to health and enhance community access to health, building their capacities and increasing public awareness. They reiterated that this training course introduced new themes that they were previously unaware of, praised its rich topics and its contribution to raising participants’ awareness of human rights in general, particularly the right to health. They also commended the competence of the trainers and the participatory and diverse training methodology used in the course.
