Ref: 32/2020Date: 26 July 2020

On Sunday, 26 July 2020, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) started the training program on mechanisms for preparing and writing reports submitted to international committees “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as a model”. Twenty-five members representing 11 civil society organizations active in the field of defending women’s rights that provide women with social services and legal consultation and assistance, in addition to reports highlighting violations of women’s rights in the Palestinian society.

This training program comes within a project on women’s rights; intervention and protection means to combat violence against women, which aims to raise participant’s awareness of general concepts of the international human rights system in a detailed and in-depth manner. In addition to the most important conventions relevant to human rights acceded to by the State of Palestine. The training program also aims at building and strengthening the capacity of civil society staff, particularly on CEDAW in order to promote the Convention, disseminate its provisions, and contribute to its effective application within society and to change the misconceptions surrounding it. Furthermore, the training aims to enhance CSOs role in developing society and developing staff’s capacities on the mechanisms for writing, presenting, and discussing reports submitted to international committees, and educating them on the periodic review mechanisms as part of States’ obligations under international conventions.

The training program is divided into three main components:

1. Introductory training on the international human rights law and conventions signed by the State of Palestine, as well as an analytical study of the provisions of CEDAW and the observations on it, and the committee concerned with it.
2. Practical training on the mechanisms for preparing, writing, presenting and discussing reports, whether they were official or shadow reports.

III. Training participants on presentation skills. The final day will conclude with a simulation session for the Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, opened the 30-hours training program which will take place over the course of 6 consecutive days. Abu Samra welcomed the participants from various women’s rights organizations and stressed the importance of this unique training program that PCHR organized in providing CSO staff with knowledge about international conventions, and UN human rights bodies. He also highlighter PCHR’s important role in building capacities on the techniques of preparing reports for human rights situations and following them with various international bodies. He also called upon participants to take advantage of this training program and apply it within their organizations.