Ref: 57/2019

On Thursday, 28 November 2019, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training course on mechanisms to reduce violence against women with the participation of 23 women’s rights defenders. The 18-hour course was held in the training hall of Capital Mall from 26-28 November 2019.

The training course coincided with the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to end Violence against women, which started on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and ends on 10 December, which marks the International Day for Human Rights. The training course is part of PCHR’s activities, aiming at raising awareness, highlighting violence issue and demanding protection for women and girls, as part and parcel of human rights violations.

The training program tackled various topics commensurate with the needs of the targeted group, aiming at identifying the concepts of human rights in general and women’s rights in particular in addition to gender-based violence, its forms and causes, ways of dealing with it, the mechanisms of intervention and legal protection of women, who are victims of violence, Palestinian legislations and their role in protecting women, human rights-based approach, the national intervention system for victims of violence, documenting and monitoring violations of women’s rights and PCHR’s role in following up these violations and working on tackling them.

At the end of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony, where Mona al-Shawa,Head of PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit, said that out of its convictions and since its establishment, PCHR established a unit specialized in disseminating and enhancing women’s rights in the Palestinian society, providing legal aid for both women’s organizations and women, in addition to raising the Palestinian woman’s awareness and making them acquainted with their rights in addition to supporting all efforts aiming at changing the domestic laws in a way that achieves justice for women, who are victims of violence.

She mentioned that the Palestinian woman has many contributions at all levels in this field, warning that the Palestinian women like other women of the world suffer from violence and in different forms, but the particularity of the Palestinian situation has made them suffer from complex and multiple violence practiced by both the occupation and society.

Al-Shawa also added that this training course focuses on basic issues and needs of women and strengthening the capacity of participants in training to respond to cases of violence against women in addition to providing assistance, intervention and protection for women who are victims of violence, through expanding the community interaction between PCHR and the organizations active in women’s issues to achieve a cohesive society that fights all forms of violence.

In his speech, Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Director of PCHR’s Training Unit, confirmed that this training course is part of PCHR’s pioneering role in disseminating and promoting the concepts of human rights in general and women’s rights in particular among all segments of society. He pointed out the importance of training in the development of youth knowledge and refining their skills as tool for creating real change in popular attitudes in their societies, which leads to respect and protect human rights. He urged participants to transfer what they learned in the course to their peers for the dissemination of interest.

Abu Samra stressed the continued relationship between PCHR and participants and the importance to enhance it, pointing out that PCHR’s doors will always be open to participants in order to benefit from PCHR’s experience in the field of human rights.

It should be noted that after the ending of this training course and during the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to end Violence against women, participants will implement a series of legal awareness lectures on violence against women and girls in institutions and universities. These meetings aim at transferring the knowledge, information and skills acquired by the participants to their peers and community for benefit, highlighting violence issues, identifying the dangers of violence against women, and reducing its forms to build a violence free society.