Pal-Think and ACTED explore cooperation with the Independent Commission for Human Rights and the bar association's Aoun programme

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies and the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) organised a round of visits under the project “Turning the principles of democracy and human rights into a way of life and daily practice for the residents of the Gaza Strip”, implemented by Pal-Think in partnership with Acted and funded by the European Commission. The project aims to contribute to protecting fundamental freedoms and human rights by strengthening Palestinian civil society's capacity to protect and advance them through a human-rights-based approach.

The delegation, comprising members of both institutions' staff, met Mr Jamil Sarhan, director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, and his team. Pal-Think's director Omar Shaban affirmed that Pal-Think has a long record of work in laying down the principles of democracy and strengthening respect for human rights, and that this round of visits aims to draw on the expertise of the other local bodies working in human rights and to build on what they have reached, in order to improve the project's outputs.

For his part, Sarhan welcomed the project team and affirmed that the Commission welcomes cooperation with civil institutions and will work with all its effort to offer every kind of backing, including technical and logistical support and team capacity-building. He added that any intervention aiming to strengthen human rights must be built on a correct understanding of reality, offering solutions and programmes that fit the Palestinian reality.

The delegation also visited the bar association in Gaza City and met the coordinator of the legal-aid unit, Islam al-Dardasawi, who spoke in depth of the association's efforts in delivering legal services to citizens — including consultations, mediation, and legal representation free of charge, in partnership with a number of other civil institutions through the “Awn network” — contributing to guaranteeing citizens' human rights. He noted that the Awn network employs 40 lawyers, fully devoted to providing free legal aid to citizens.

Al-Dardasawi noted that the association welcomes any cooperation with civil-society institutions in the service of human rights in the Strip; and so it was agreed between the project team and the bar association that technical and logistical support would be provided to the project team through the association's human-rights committee.