Ref: 5/2011

On Thursday, 24 February 2011, the Training
Unit of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training
course on human rights and democracy in cooperation with the Friendship
Educational and Cultural Center (FECC) in Gaza City. The 5-day course (20
training hours) was held at the main office of FECC in Gaza City between 20 and
24 February with 28 participants representing two civil society organizations
in attendance.

The course addressed a number of international
human rights conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on
the Elimination of Violence against Women. The course also addressed the rule
of law, independence of the judiciary and democracy both in theory and in
practice.

A specialized team of trainers from PCHR,
including Mona Shawa, Director of PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit, Majda Shehada,
researcher at PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit, Sharif Abu Nssar, lawyer in PCHR’s
Legal Unit, and Bassam al-Aqra, Director of PCHR’s Training Unit, ran the
training sessions. In his closing speech FECC Director Awad Qandil thanked PCHR
and said he appreciated its continued efforts to raise awareness regarding
human rights. He stressed that this course was the first of a series of
activities which will be implemented in the future in cooperation with PCHR.

Bassam al-Aqra. Director of PCHR’s Training
Unit, explained that this training course was part of a 3-year project, funded
by the European Union and Oxfam Novib, whose goal is to raise awareness and
respect of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory. He added
that this course was part of long-term efforts made by PCHR to promote human
rights in Palestinian society, in cooperation with civil society
organizations. He called upon the participants to benefit from services
provided by PCHR, stressing that PCHR is ready to provide services to anyone in
need of them.

The participants said they appreciated efforts
made by PCHR to disseminate the culture of human rights in the Palestinian
society. A trainee, Mohammed Hassan, said that the course contributed to
raising participants’ awareness of human rights and democracy. He added
that the course was distinguished in the different issues it addressed in spite
of the large amount of material covered. Another trainee, Azhar Zeino, stated
that he appreciated the efficiency of the trainers and the training methods,
which encouraged participation and fruitful discussion. At the end of the last
training day, participants were presented with certificates.