Ref: 06/2021

Date: 27 January 2021

On Wednesday, 27 January 2021, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training course on women’s rights and gender-based violence and the mechanisms of intervention and protection with the participation of twenty-seven representatives of 10 community-based- organizations from Northern Gaza. The 20-hour training course was held over the course of four consecutive days, from 24 – 27 January 2021, in al-Mathaf Hotel.

This training course falls within PCHR’s strategic goal to build the capacity of civil society organizations on the general principles of human rights and women’s rights in particularly; as well as, gender and GBV issues, intervention mechanisms and legal protections. PCHR intends to create ambassadors for change to disseminate the culture of human rights within their organizations and communities, and to expand its organizational outreach to GBV victims who may require help, in a manner that safeguards women’s rights and promotes their role and contribution to society.

The training program tackled various topics commensurate with the needs of the targeted group, with an introduction to general concepts of human rights and women’s rights in particular in addition to gender-based violence, its forms and causes, ways of dealing with it; legal protection and intervention mechanisms for women who are victims of violence; Palestinian legislations and their role in protecting women; women’s access to justice mechanisms and political participation. A team of specialized trainers from PCHR supervised the training sessions.

At the end of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony, where Abdulhalim Abu Samra, Head of Training Unit at PCHR, emphasized that such training courses build networks and establish for new cooperation, especially that this was the first engagement for PCHR with some of the participating organizations. He added that PCHR aims to empower CBOs, especially those specialized in women’s rights, in women’s rights and responding to GBV cases, and to network with CBOs for the provision of legal aid for women. Abu Samra concluded that this training course focuses on the main issues pertaining to women’s rights and enhance participants’ capacity to respond to GBV cases including through legal aid through expanded social engagement between PCHR and women’s rights organizations.

Ms. Sabrine Abu Salama, CEO of Family and Society Development Association in Jabalia and training recipient, thanked PCHR for its pioneering role in disseminating the culture of human rights, encouraging her colleagues to benefit from the training course and use the new skills

they learned. She stressed the importance of having social activists act with a rights-based approach in the face of norms and traditions that are unjust towards women and disenfranchise them from engaging in social life.

At the end of the ceremony, all participants in the training course received certificates.