Ref: 1/2007

Date: 24 January 2007

To Exchange Expertise and Liaise:

PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit Meets Women’s Organizations and Active Civil Society Groups in the Southern Gaza Strip

On Tuesday, 24 January 2007, PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit organized an open meeting entitled “Legal Aid and Counseling Programs for Women,” with the participation of women’s and civil society organizations in the southern Gaza Strip. The meeting was held in the Center’s Khan Yunis branch.

More than 60 representatives of women’s and civil society organizations from the southern Gaza Strip attended the meeting, which aimed to exchange expertise and maintain liaison among the participants. The meeting is part of the Women’s Rights Unit activities towards improving women’s awareness of their legal rights and provide them with legal counseling and assistance.

Majeda Shehada, the unit’s researcher, opened the meeting with a briefing about the unit, its objectives, plans, and activities. PCHR’s deputy director, Jaber Weshah, followed by talking about the current situation in the OPT, and the need to improve joint activities among different organizations to improve services provided to women.

Hanan Matar, the unit’s lawyer, talked about the work of the unit in the area of legal counseling and representation in courts, in addition to legal awareness.

The unit’s director, Mona El-Shawwa, discussed the intended objectives of the meeting, which included: exchange of ideas and expertise, learning from the experience of other organizations, and attaining a better understanding of the needs of Palestinian women vis-à-vis the unit’s work and plans.

The meeting witnessed an open discussion between the participants on their experience, which led to drafting a number of recommendations for the Women’s Rights Unit. The recommendations included:

–         Providing awareness activities for men, and not restricting them to women;

–         Improving access to schools to raise girls awareness of their rights;

–         Concentrating awareness activities on youth;

–         Increasing awareness activities for women, and conducting field follow up of results;

–         Working to amend existing laws, especially the personal statute law, which discriminates against women; and

–         Working to provide a safe house for female victims of violence.