The first juvenile court session is held at the premises of the Al-Rabie institution

Gaza, Publication and Information Unit:

The first juvenile court session was held today at the premises of the Al-Rabie institution for the care of juveniles, in the court designated for children in conflict with the law, where the Gaza court of first instance, in its criminal capacity, held the first session for trying juveniles, headed by the president of the court, counsellor Hassan Al-Hissi, with counsellors Awadallah Awadallah and counsellor Mohammed Nofal as members. Five felony files concerning juveniles resident at the Al-Rabie institution were considered. This session comes after effort and coordination by the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Public Prosecution and the Supreme Judicial Council, in order to consolidate the principle of the independence of juvenile justice. Lawyer Ahmed Al-Masri, coordinator of the juvenile justice project in the Gaza Strip for the Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution, stated that the holding of the juvenile court is a step on the right road towards reaching the best justice for juveniles, amid the competing efforts to create a criminal justice consistent with the international standards governing juvenile justice, valuing the role of all the bodies active in this framework and valuing the continuation of joint cooperation between them in a way that achieves the best interest of the Palestinian child, particularly as it came close to World Children's Day on the twentieth of November each year. For his part, Ali Khalla, representative of the Attorney General in juvenile justice, stated that the Public Prosecution supports any effort that leads to the idea of creating a criminal environment through which the interest of juveniles is achieved, and that it has spared no effort in pursuing that. For his part, lawyer Ahmed Al-Maghrabi, responsible for the file of correction and rehabilitation centres at the Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution, explained that the Palestinian Center has taken upon itself to adopt all the cases of the inmates, giving special attention to the cases of children in conflict with the law, permanently and free of charge, in a way that serves this group of children.