Ref: 53/2021

Date: 05 October 2021

On Monday, 04 October 2021, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded 3 training courses for young female lawyers in the field of defending women’s rights before Sharia courts, in cooperation with UN Women, sponsored by “Sawasiya”; the joint program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN Women and UNICEF: Strengthening Rule of Law in Palestine.

The 35-hour training courses were held over the course of seven consecutive days, from 21 September – 04 October 2021, in the 3 governorates of the Gaza Strip (Gaza City, Northern Gaza Strip and Khan Yunis) with the participation of 60 female lawyers.

This training course comes to promote the capacities of young female lawyers in the field of human rights in general and women’s rights in particular, in addition to the Personal Status Law which is currently applied in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, to enhance their capacities in laws that protect the family and women’s rights, in order to qualify them to work before Sharia Courts, and enable them to legally use international conventions on women’s rights to defend women’s issues before the judiciary.

The training program included several topics that meet the needs of the targeted group to promote and build their capacities, by choosing topics relevant to international human rights law in general, and women’s rights in particular, in addition to topics relevant to Personal Status Law, Family Law, inheritance rules and endowment provisions, in addition to the Code of Sharia Procedure.

At the end of the course, PCHR held a closing ceremony where Mona al-Shawa, Head of PCHR’s Woman’s Rights Unit, emphasized the importance of these courses in building the young female lawyers’ capacities, and enable them to defend women’s rights, especially before Sharia Courts. She asserted that this kind of courses aim to create bonds between the human rights system, international conventions for women, and the applicable domestic laws, especially the Personal Status Law, in order to reach a new generation whose priority is to defend women’s rights.

Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, asserted that these courses come as part of PCHR’s efforts to disseminate the culture of human rights, especially women’s rights and aids provided to women who are victims of violence, in addition to harmonizing between domestic laws and human rights and women’s rights conventions.

The participants praised PCHR’s unique role in building their capacities in the field of defending women’s rights before the Sharia Courts, and stressed the training courses had rich topics that will positively reflect on their professional level.

At the end of the ceremony, participants received certificates.