On Thursday, 24 March 2022, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training course on women’s rights protection mechanisms and referral system for women victims of gender-based violence (GBV) with the participation of twenty-seven representatives of 7 community-based-organizations (CBOs) working in the Gaza Strip governorates. The 25-hour training course was held over the course of five consecutive days, from 20 – 24 March 2022.

This training course falls within PCHR’s strategic goal to build the capacity of civil society organizations on protection mechanisms and referral system for women victims of violence, in particularly GBV. PCHR intends to create ambassadors for change to disseminate the culture of human rights within their organizations and peers, and to expand its organizational outreach to GBV victims who may require help, in a manner that safeguards women’s rights and promotes their role and contribution to society.

The training program tackled various topics commensurate with the needs of the targeted group, with an introduction to general concepts of human rights and women’s rights in particular; gender and gender-based violence, its forms, causes, and ways of dealing with it. Other topics included the National Referral System for Women Victims of GBV; Palestinian legislations and their role in protecting women; the compatibility of Personal Status Law with women’s rights, in addition to  mechanisms for monitoring, documenting, and reporting violations of women’s rights.

At the end of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony, where Mona al-Shawwa, Head of PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit, emphasized that such training courses build networks and establish for new cooperation with CBOs. She added that PCHR aims to empower CBOs, especially those specialized in women’s rights, and strengthen their responsiveness to GBV cases, and to network with CBOs for the provision of legal aid for women. Al-Shawwaa indicated that this training course focuses on enhancing CBOs capacities to empower women’s access to justice and enhance their knowledge about the National Referral System and the available means of reporting violations against women.

For his part, Abdulhalim Abu Samra, Head of Training Unit at PCHR, emphasized that PCHR’s keenness to organize such courses for CBOs aims to build their competencies and enhance their knowledge in order to create a real change in society, calling upon all participants to transfer what they learned in the course to their peers to spread the benefit.  He also invited them to reach out to PCHR to benefit from its staff’s experience and receive advanced training courses in this field.

The participants emphasized that the course was characterized with its rich topics; praised trainers’ efficiency and various and interactive training methods used in the course, which shed a light on several important topics and enhanced and developed their skills.

At the end of the ceremony, all participants in the training course received certificates.