PCHR Concludes Training Course on “Human Rights and Mechanisms to Promote Right to Health”
Ref: 22/2020
Date: 08 May 2020
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded on Thursday, 06 May 2020, a training course on “Human Rights and Mechanisms to Promote Right to Health”, resuming its training activities which were interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic. PCHR took all the preventive and health safety measures for the trainers and trainees by reducing the participants’ number by half. The trainees included 12 female and male doctors and nurses that work in Ministry of Health medical centers in Khan Younis. The 20-hour-training course was held over the course of 4 days, from 04-07 May 2020.
This training course is the third of its kind in 2020 under the project “Promote, Respect, and Fulfill the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health in the Gaza Strip” implemented by PCHR in partnership with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and funded by the European Union. A total of 8 training courses per year will be held by the end of 2021, targeting 200 members of the medical personnel and activists in the Gaza Strip.
The course focused on a number of topics that meet the needs of the targeted group, such as topics relevant to the International Bill of Human Rights, with its three components; the concept of the right to health in international human rights law and international humanitarian law; the obligations of the State of Palestine to implement the right to health; tort liability for medical errors and negligence and its effects on the right to health, including monitoring and documenting the violations of the right to health and the legal follow-up mechanism.
At the end of the course, PCHR held a closing ceremony where Abdel Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, emphasized that PCHR has given great attention to the right tp health issue over the years, through promoting and improving the knowledge of health sector personnel and on human rights issues, including the right to health. Abu Samrah added that this training comes at a time when the world is undergoing a crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, which affects all aspects of life. In this context, PCHR works under an emergency plan and did not stop providing its services to the Palestinian public, through modern technological means to fulfil PCHR’s mission and achieve its goals.
Isamil Abu Jazar, representative of Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), said that this training aimed at promoting access to healthcare, providing consultations and legal aid for Palestinian patients, in addition to disseminating a culture of human rights and international humanitarian law, especially the right to health through building and strengthening the capacities of the health sector personnel and right to health activists.
Dr. Tamim Saqer, Head of Khan Younis Health Department, expressed his appreciation for PCHR’s efforts to conduct this training course under the state of emergency at the Ministry of Health to combat coronavirus. Dr. Saqer also stressed the importance of this training in promoting and developing the capacities of workers in the field of human rights, especially the right to health, to improve access to health services and enhance community access to health, building their capacities and increasing public awareness.
