Ref: 45/2019

On Thursday, 10 October 2019, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded the fifth and final training course for this year on human rights law and mechanisms of litigation before Sharia Courts. The course comes as part of PCHR’s capacity-building efforts targeting male and female lawyers in the field of Personal Status Law, family-related laws and women’s rights in order to prepare them for obtaining the sharia law license to practice their work before sharia courts.

The 35-hour course, which was held in the training hall of al-Sa’adah Land Resort from 25 September – 10 October 2019, was attended by 25 male and female lawyers from Khan Younis and Rafah cities.

The training program of the course included topics that meet the needs of the targeted group. It focused on topics relevant to International human rights law in addition to other topics relevant to Sharia Laws such as the Personal Status Law, Family Law, Inheritance Rules, Waqf (Endowment) rules, and Sharia Proceedings Law.

A team of specialized trainers supervised the training sessions. The team included Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit; Mohammed ‘Atallah, a trainer at PCHR’s Training Unit; Majdah Shehada; a researcher at PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit; and Samah ‘Ashour, a lawyer at the Women’s Unit in addition to Sharia judges namely Sa’id Abu al-Jubein, Ibrahim al-Najjar, ‘Omer Nofal, and Ahmed al-Buhaisi.

At the end of the course, PCHR held a closing ceremony where Abdul Halim Abu Samrah, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, reviewed PCHR’s role in promoting and protecting women’s rights and talked about the services provided to women, who are victims of violence, in addition to PCHR’s attempts to harmonize the Personal Status Law with women’s issues   Abu Samrah emphasized that this course is part of PCHR’s work for years dedicated for capacity building of fresh lawyers to defend women’s rights and promote their knowledge of human rights and Personal Status Law in addition to developing the judicial system in Palestine.

Mr. Ayman Abu ‘Aishah, Head of Sharia Bar Association, praised PCHR’s distinctive role in disseminating the culture of human rights and rule of law among young lawyers, pointing out the great relationship between PCHR and the Bar Association.  He added that the course was characterized with its rich topics that will help lawyers to pass the Sharia Law license exam and contribute to better understanding of the Personal Status Law, elaborating that all of this would positively affect women’s conditions and create a generation of lawyers aware and able of defending human rights.

The participants praised PCHR’s unique role in raising their efficiencies in pleading before Sharia Courts.  They added that the course was characterized with its rich topics on lawyers’ professional level and their understanding of human rights as well as the Personal Status Law.

At the end of the ceremony, all participants received certificates.