Ref: 53/2019

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded on Wednesday, 06 November 2019, the eighth training course within its European Union funded project “Promote, Respect, and Fulfill the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health in the Gaza Strip”. The project is in partnership with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS).

The 20-hour-training course was held at Cedar Restaurant hall from 28 October to 06 November 2019, with the participation of representatives from six non-governmental organizations working in the health sector in the Gaza Strip.

This training course comes as part of PCHR’s long-term efforts in promoting and disseminating the culture of human rights, and deepening health sector professionals’ understanding of the right to health. It focuses on capacity building of medical crews to provide proper health care in accordance with human rights standards to fulfill the right to the highest attainable standard of health in the Gaza Strip, in promotion of human rights, particularly the right to health.

The 3-year project aims are three-fold: to improve access to healthcare, legal counseling and legal assistance for a number of 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.  It should be noted that 8 training courses were held during this year targeting 202 members of the medical personnel and activists in the Gaza Strip, including 94 women (47%).

The training course addressed several topics that meet the needs of the targeted group relevant to human rights, including:

• an introduction to Human Rights;
• the International Bill of Human Rights and its 3 components;
• right to health in the international human rights law and international humanitarian law;
• Palestine’s obligations to realize the right to health;
• tort liability resulting from medical errors and medical negligence and its impact on the right to health;
• World Health Organization (WHO) and its role in promoting the right to health;
• international mechanisms to protect human rights and the right to health;
• the mechanisms to promote the freedom of movement and right to health (PCHR as an example); and
• The measures to monitor and document violations of the right to health and legal follow-up mechanism.

At the end of the course, PCHR held a closing ceremony where Abdul Halim Abu Samrah, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, asserted that the course was distinguished by the number of new participant NGOS and the consequent expansion of PCHR’s outreach to different groups and communities. Abu Samra added that this course is part of PCHR’s efforts to protect and disseminate the culture of human rights, especially the right to health, and provide legal counseling and assistance for the victims of right to health violations.

The participants emphasized the great importance of this training program in terms of NGO capacity building, particularly primary healthcare organizations, to improve the access to healthcare services and promote society’s access to healthcare. In addition, they highlighted the importance of raising their awareness of the concepts relevant to the right to health; adding that they received new knowledge as the training course had rich topics focusing on human rights in general and the right to health in particular. Furthermore, they praised the proficiency of the trainees and the various training methods they used in managing the training sessions.