The project for supporting women victims of violence organises a workshop at Gaza University on non-violence against women
Gaza, Publication and Information Unit:
The project for supporting women victims of violence at the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, in cooperation with Gaza University, organised an educational workshop entitled "Educational institutions and their role in strengthening a culture of non-violence against women", in the university's conference hall on 6/12/2011, within the events of the 16 days to combat violence against women in the Gaza and West Bank governorates and with funding from Norwegian People's Aid (NPA).
At the start of the workshop, the director of the legal unit and coordinator of the Justice for All project at the Centre, Younis Al-Tahrawi, spoke about the legal dimension of handling women's cases within the local community. He stressed the need to activate the laws and procedures guaranteed to women and to work on increasing awareness and education programmes within educational institutions.
For his part, Dr. Jabr Abu Al-Naja, a lecturer at Gaza University, stressed the need to develop the Palestinian educational curricula so that they contribute to strengthening women's pioneering role in society, and to work on developing the personal status code in support of women. He noted that women must bear their responsibilities towards their husband, their home and their society and highlight their positive contribution and their achievements at the social level.
Dr. Abu Al-Naja called for setting up units dedicated to women within educational, governmental and private institutions, so as to be able to address the problems of their fellow abused women, and for encouraging women and girls to organise voluntary activities in the neighbourhoods and the governorates. He noted that universities bear the responsibility of holding discussion and dialogue meetings with their students about the concepts, rights and duties of spouses and young people.
For her part, the psychologist at the project for supporting women victims of violence, Raeda Wishah, addressed the psychological and social dimension of violence in educational institutions and gave as an example the killing of a university student in the universities area in Gaza several days earlier. She explained that violence in some educational institutions is a mistaken cultural and social extension caused by weak and unsound social upbringing in raising children and within educational institutions.
It is noted that the 16 days campaign to combat violence against women continues in several governorates in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from the beginning of December, in coordination among a number of civil society organisations, including the Conflict Resolution Center, to support women in obtaining the rights guaranteed to them by law.
