Refe: 36/2013

On Tuesday, 21 May 2013, the Woman Rights Unit of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Swiss Terres des Hommes in Gaza organized a special workshop. cCustomary judges, lawyers, and some workers in institutions which are concerned with the woman and children’s rights participated in the workshop.

The workshop was held to discuss the results of the research paper “Evaluation of the Customary Judicial System and the Adequacy of Its Applications for Children’s Justice in Conflict with the Law”, which carried out by PCHR in cooperation with the Swiss Terres des Hommes in 2012.

The workshop started with a welcoming speech introduced by Ms. Mona al-Shawa, Director of the Woman’s Rights Unit at the PCHR, and Mr. Jeremie Bron, Field Coordinator of Terres des Homme in Palestine.

In her speech, Ms. Al-Shawa talked about the importance of the research because it is the first of its kind in Gaza Strip, which aimed to provide guiding principles to those who concerned with children’s issues to ensure respect for children’s rights.

Mr. Bron introduced in his speech the objectives of the association represented in protecting the children to ensure that they enjoy all their rights.  He highlighted the most important studies conducted by the association in the field of juvenile justice.

Ms.Cristen Hope from the Swiss Terres des Hommes made a presentation on children’s protection,  addressing the important and major role that religious figures play to save children in the society, and the necessity of the coordination between the concerned authorities and religious figures. Ms. Hope stressed the importance of the role of the informal judiciary and the religious figures in achieving juvenile justice.

Mr. Jihad Arafat, a former legal researcher in the PCHR who supervised preparing the research, presented a brief background on the research which covers the period from2007
till 2013, highlighting its objectives, approach, and the structure that was followed in the research.  He also presented the most important results and recommendations of the research.

Mr. Arafat explained the importance of the customary judiciary for the Palestinian society attributing that to historical, social and economic factors, as well as the important role played by customary judges in juvenile justice.

At the end of his intervention, Mr. Arafat referred to the group of results and recommendations that the research reached  to the official bodies,  to the representatives of the customary judiciary and to the NGOs  to increase the cooperation between each other to achieve the juvenile justice.

Dr. Khetam Abu Hamad, Director of the Gaza Office of Terres des Hommes, concluded the workshop by opening discussion to allow the attendants to present their interventions.  They unanimously agreed on the necessity of providing a safe environment for the child, and emphasized the importance of having control over the work of the customary
judges.