On Thursday,
23 August 2007, PCHR has concluded the first in a series of training courses on
women’s rights and gender, organized in cooperation with women’s organizations
in the Gaza Strip.
The 20-hour
course was held at PCHR’s office in Kahn Yunis. It targeted 37 activists
representing 11 women’s organizations in Khan Yunis. The training was conducted
by a number of specialized trainers: Bassam al-Aqra, Director of PCHR Training
Unit; Hamdi Shaqqura, Director of Democratic Development Unit; Muna al-Shawa,
Director of Women’s Rights Unit; Majeda Shihada and Sameer Hasaniya, from
Women’s Rights Unit Dr. Bassam Abu Hashish, a lecturer at al-Aqsa University in
Gaza, also contributed to the training.
Mr. Bassam al-Aqra’,
Director of PCHR Training Unit, stated that this course is the first one in a
series of specialized courses organized by PCHR focusing on women’s rights,
based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW). The course covered a variety of topics related to
women’s rights included in CEDAW, including: CEDAW historical development; the
concept of discrimination, obligations of States towards women’s rights; women’s
legal rights; women’s political participation; women’s economic, social and
cultural rights; violence against women; reservations of Arab States with regard
to CEDAW; the concept of gender; and the death penalty.
In his
concluding speech, Mr. Hamdi Shaqqoura, Director of Democratic Development Unit,
said that the course gave clues to understand human rights, and that PCHR is
ready to carry out additional activities to promote the culture of human rights
and tolerance in the Palestinian society. He emphasized the importance of
maintaining contacts between the participants and PCHR following the course. He
further called upon the participants put the knowledge they gained in the course
into practice.
The
participants thanked PCHR for its efforts to promote the culture of human rights
and called for organizing more of such courses in other areas.
In the end,
Mr. Hamdi Shaqqoura and Mr. ‘Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Public Relations Officer at
PCHR’s office in Khan Yunis, handed certificates to the participants.
