Ref: 75/2012

On Monday, 24 September 2012, PCHR will receive a delegation from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).  This delegation is comprised of 21 lawyers from IADL’s Executive Committee, which decided to hold its annual meetings this year in the Gaza Strip, as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people and in protest against the human rights violations perpetrated by the Israeli Occupation Forces, including the closure and collective punishment measures imposed on the Gaza Strip. 

The IADL, which was founded in 1946, is a non-governmental organization with consultative status at the UN Economic, Social and Cultural Council and UNESCO.  IADL members include lawyers throughout the world and a number of national and regional associations and unions.  Its goals include, inter alia: ensuring cooperation amongst lawyers throughout the world in the field of democratic practice; encouraging respect for, and maintenance of, international peace and security; promoting the independence of peoples and protesting any restrictions on such independence; defending human rights and democratic liberties; struggling for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession; defending peoples’ rights of development and equality. 

PCHR has arranged the visit program for this international delegation, which will stay in Gaza until Saturday, 29 September 2012.  In addition to the 2 days of meetingsfor the IADL Executive Committee, the program visit includes a series of challenging activities, which will serve as an opportunity to learn more about the current situation in the Gaza Strip and the challenges facing its population. 

These activities include a number of meetings with government officials, Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations, political factions and professors and students of the faculties of law in Palestinian universities.  The program visit will also include a field tour to various areas in the Gaza Strip, so that the delegation can learn more about the living conditions of the Palestinian population under the violations of their rights being perpetrated by the Israeli Occupation Forces.  Members of the delegation will also participate in a seminar organized by PCHR on 27 September 2012 titled “Accountability of Violations of International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

It is worth noting that Mr. RajiSourani, Director of PCHR, is a member of the IADL Executive Committee.  He will participate in the Executive Committee’s meetings to be held in Gaza.