In participation of 27 attendees, 7 of whom were females of the defenders of fishermen and farmers’ rights in Khan Yunis, representing11 CBOs working in Khan Yunis, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded on Wednesday, 13 September 2017, a training course in the field of defending farmers and fishermen’s rights. The 20-hour course was held in the head office of Khuza’a Municipality in Khan Yunis during 10-13 September 2017.
The program of the course included an introduction to human rights, the International Bill of Human Rights (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), the right to housing, land and property in the international law of human rights and the international humanitarian law; Palestinian land law and ways to prove ownership; judicial remedy for victims of violations of housing, land and property rights; challenges facing members of the agricultural committees in their work; and the role of human rights organizations (PCHR for example) to protect farmers and fishermen’s rights.
A team of PCHR’s trainers supervised the training sessions. The team included Ahlam al-Aqra’, Sahrif, lawyers at PCHR’s Legal Aid Unit, Abdul Halim Abu Samra, PCHR’s Public Relations officer in Khan Younis, Mohammed ‘Atallah, a trainer at PCHR; Bassam al-Aqra’, director of PCHR’s Training Unit; and Yasser ‘Abdel Ghafour, a Fieldworker at PCHR.
At the end of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony. Abdul Halim Abu Samra stressed PCHR’s efforts exerted on the long term to work with farmers and fishermen in the border area and their defenders in corporation with Civil Society Organizations that are active among farmers and fishermen in Khan Yunis. He also highlighted PCHR’s role in raising awareness of farmers and fishermen’s rights in addition to their defenders as a preamble to implementing them in reality.
Bassam al-Aqraa’ stressed that the “The relationship between PCHR and farmers and fishermen and their defenders in addition to the institutions in which they are active, will not end at the end of the course, and should be strengthened afterwards. He also said that PCHR’s doors will always be open to them in order to in order to benefit from PCHR’s experience regarding what they have learnt, particularly that PCHR’s Legal Aid Unit provides various legal assistance and awareness services to them in the Gaza Strip.
Dalal Abu Rjeilah, participant from al-Waleed Charity indicated that the course raised their awareness of farmers and fishermen’s rights and was characterized with its rich topics and contributed to raising farmers and fishermen’s’ awareness of their rights; and the various and interactive training methods used in the course. She also stressed that more awareness sessions should be held for farmers. Fuad al-Amoudi, Head of the Fishermen Syndicate in Khan Younis, praised the trainers’ efficiency and the various and interactive training methods they used which enriched the course. He also stressed that more awareness sessions should be held for fishermen so that they can defend their rights.
At the end of the course, all participants received certificates.
