Ref: 16/ 2022

Date: 16 June 2022

On Tuesday, 14 June 2022, through the HAYA Joint Programme, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded the last two training courses entitled, “Women’s Rights and Mechanisms of Intervention and Protection to Combat Violence against Women” as part of “HAYA Joint Programme.” The training courses were conducted in cooperation with the education program at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) throughout the Gaza Strip and were held in Khan Yuins and Gaza City from 06 to 14 June 2022, with the participation of 51 teachers, including 35 women (making 68.6% of the total participants).

This training course is part of a partnership between the PCHR and UN Women through the HAYA Joint Programme, funded by the Government of Canada. The course aims to develop the knowledge and educational skills of teachers and parents in UNRWA schools, as well as help them acquire new educational skills that will contribute to reducing violence against women, particularly gender-based violence, based on an updated educational methodology promoting human rights.

The training program includes several topics addressing the needs of the participants and promoting the concept of human rights, particularly women’s rights as stipulated in international conventions, as well as gender-based violence issues and teachers’ roles in reducing the phenomenon of violence.

At the training courses’ closing ceremony, ‘Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, asserted the importance of the training implemented by PCHR to raise awareness and the capacity building of educational institution staff in working to provide a safe, stimulating, and enriching learning environment by reducing school violence which falls under gender-based violence. Abu Samra emphasized the importance of such courses that target educators as it offers a unique and enriching content for teachers and counselors.

Abu Samra demanded teachers take their pedagogical role in raising awareness on the dangers of violence by broadening the community interaction base between the teachers and local society as well as their role in raising a generation of students on dissemination of human rights values and principles and rejection of violence within the educational institutions. Mr. Abu Samra stressed that this could build a generation that believes in the principles of justice and gender equality and combats all forms of violence against women in the Palestinian society.

Mona al-Shawa, Head of PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit, emphasized the importance of such training courses for targeting one of the most important categories in society “the educators” due to their vital role in raising the next generation. She also clarified that this training course aims at empowering educators to combat violence against women in the school and the entire society through transferring this knowledge and skills they learnt to male and female students and to other teachers and parents alike.

Mr. Fares Tawil, Project Manager for the UN Women component under the HAYA Joint Programme, clarified that raising society’s awareness on the concepts of human rights and gender equality should be done at a young age. Therefore, it is very important to work with schools to build teachers’ capacities and empower them with the right knowledge and tools to transfer learning to students and spread the spirit of cooperation and equality among them.

The participants praised the course’s design and its focus on rich topics, as well as the skilled trainers and interactive training methods used in the course, which served to enhance and develop their professional skills.

At the end of the ceremony, all participants were awarded certificates for successfully completing the training program.

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The HAYA Joint Programme seeks to eliminate violence against women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. HAYA is funded by the Government of Canada and jointly implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN–Habitat), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry of Social Development as well as other ministries and civil society organizations.