Pal-Think keeps spreading awareness of democracy and human-rights issues

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies continues carrying out a series of awareness meetings on rights and democracy topics, targeting the youth category especially and the rest of society's members generally — within the project “Strengthening civil society's role in supporting the Palestinian elections”, implemented by Pal-Think for Strategic Studies with funding from the Government of Canada. Pal-Think carried out these meetings with several partners in all the governorates of the Gaza Strip, targeting a group of university graduates. The meetings took up several titles, foremost: “The personal-status law and family protection”, in cooperation with the Coast Association for Development. The meeting began with talk of domestic violence and its social reality, especially after the spread of many crimes of violence in Palestinian families whose victims were women and children at high rates. There was likewise discussion of the Basic Law of human rights, which includes the guarantee of family protection and the penalties falling on the crimes' perpetrators; the attendees also discussed the family-protection law, the draft law of protection from violence, and the procedures followed by the competent bodies in this regard.

The following meeting was in cooperation with the Najada Association on the topic “The role of civil-society institutions in strengthening youth political participation”. The meeting took up the importance of civil-society institutions adopting programmes that strengthen youth political participation and the tools of treating the gap between these institutions and the youth. The meeting likewise discussed the tools needed for promoting the culture of youth political participation, and the importance of engaging them in initiatives and voluntary work that strengthens in them belonging and citizenship and encourages the youth to head to these institutions as platforms for expressing their views.

As for the meeting on the topic “Human rights and youth political participation”, it was carried out in cooperation with the Manal Association for Rural Women's Development. The meeting discussed the concept of human rights and its characteristics and set out the international covenants supporting human rights, in addition to focusing on the right to political participation and its forms and setting out its legal frame locally and internationally.

Another meeting was likewise carried out at the Association for the Care of Families of the Disabled under the title “Democracy and the right to elect”. The meeting's principal axis was the concept of democracy, its elements, and its forms — among them free elections — in addition to several discussions on the separation of powers, equality before the law, and the importance of an independent judiciary for oversight of the democratic system's course in society. The meeting likewise took up the most important obstacles facing the democratic transformation.

It is recalled that these meetings were led by a group of youth among the graduates of a training programme titled “Strengthening youth political participation and spreading the concepts of democracy”, carried out by Pal-Think to qualify the youth to be activists able to pass on information and contribute to awareness-raising on democracy and rights topics.

The designations used and the presentation of materials in this programme entail no expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Government of Canada