2016-04-15

Tubas

Human Rights Defenders / West Bank

Tubas’s Tayaseer Seconday School for Boys hosted a number of members from the Palestinian Human Rights Defenders Network to raise awareness among students regarding their right to a safe environment, free from the remnants of occupation. The workshop was organized by MUSAWA – The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Legal and Judiciary Profession, in cooperation with Tayaseer Seconday School for Boys and the Palestinian Police in Tubas, targeting 25 students.

The workshop aimed at spreading the culture of human rights in marginalized regions and communities, introducing the community to the existence and importance of the Palestinian Human Rights Defenders Network (PHRDs), disseminating its goals and mission in order to include new individuals and institutions as members, raising legal awareness, and enabling community groups to defend their rights and realize the legal tools and mechanisms available to protect these rights. The lecturers included lawyers Raneen Sawafta, Zeid Abu-Arrah, Razan Ja’aysah, all members of the PHRDs Network.

The workshop addressed various topics: introducing suspicious objects and their different types, the risks of ammunitions and their effect on individuals as well as society as a whole, the locations where suspicious objects are found (mines), child rights according to international conventions and Palestinian laws.

Mr. Mujahed Rabay’ah, Public Relations Officer in Tubas Police Station, provided the participants with information on landmines and their types, safety measures that should be taken. Also, some brochures were distributed during the workshop.

At the end of the workshop, participants gave the following recommendations: expanding awareness workshops in marginalized areas, activating the role Civil Society Organizations play in protecting the Palestinian environment and raising awareness regarding the matter, and providing leaflets to raise awareness regarding the risks of suspicious objects and landmines in Tubas and the Jordan Valley area.

This workshop comes as part of a project to empower human rights defenders, carried out by MUSAWA in both the West Bank and Gaza, with the support of the European Union.