The Legal Clinic at Al-Istiqlal University, in cooperation with the Women's Center for Legal and Social Counseling, held a course on "Women's Rights, Human Rights" for the second-year students of the College of Intermediate Studies from the various specializations, which extends three days, in the presence of Dr. Issam Al-Atrash, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Dr. Nael Zaid, the Dean of the Intermediate College, and Ms. Rana Assi, the Head of the Legal Clinic Department, Ms. Rawan Obeid, the Human Rights Advocacy Officer at the Women's Center for Legal and Social Counseling in Palestinian Universities, and the coordinator, Ms. Dania El Hawary, from the Women's Center for Legal and Social Counseling.
Furthermore, Dr. Al-Atrash welcomed the Women’s Center, which offers a distinguished and valuable course for students of Al-Istiqlal, stressing that women are an essential partner in society in light of all challenges, besides the importance to educate society and students about the role of women.
The course included several training sessions and themes, such as:
An overview of the concept of gender that aimed to introduce participants to the concept of gender, its roles, and needs, and to distinguish between the concepts of sex and gender. Also, the Department of Rights made a session to discuss the concept of rights and violations and the relationship between legal rights and how to distribute them, the concept of violence against women, its types and effects, and its definition in International law, in addition to promoting the trends and skills in dealing with victims of violence.
And, the session of the International law of Human Rights which included, the international conventions and treaties, the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, and the axis of the Penal Code to introduce the gaps in the penal law related to women's rights, the system of personal status law, the inadequacy of laws in protecting victims of domestic violence in Palestine, and promoting trends towards creating a law to protect the family from violence.
Moreover, the course explained the protection and referral session for battered women by identifying the mechanisms and procedures for networking, coordination, and cooperation with other relevant institutions, and identifying the steps and mechanisms of intervention when dealing with issues of violence, protection, alternatives, and referral to the competent authorities.
It is noteworthy to mention the Women's Center for Counseling has expanded, in recent years, to spread awareness of women's rights by raising legal and social issues related to the rights of Palestinian women.