Within the activities of the "A Step Towards Change" project: "The reality of political participation of Palestinian youth in local authorities"

The Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, in partnership with the Norwegian People's Aid office, held a dialogue meeting on the reality of political participation of Palestinian youth in local authorities.

Tuesday 25 July 2017 at ten in the morning

Ms. Samar Hamad, lobbying and advocacy campaigns consultant at the Centre, opened the meeting by welcoming the guests and observing a minute's silence in solidarity with Al-Aqsa Mosque and in protest at the events taking place in Jerusalem.

At the start of the meeting, Hamad stressed the need to highlight young people's political participation by strengthening their role in driving political life within Palestinian society. In the same vein, Dr. Mohammed Abu Al-Khair, director of the Central Elections Commission for the Gaza district, presented a paper on youth participation in the 2016 local elections, setting out the importance of the democratic system and the levels of political participation. He stressed that the proportion of young people represented on party lists is weak, noting that financial and procedural obstacles facing young people are the main reason for their limited participation. He concluded by stressing the importance and role of young people and their ability to bring about change.  

Eng. Zuhdi Laghriz, director general of complaints at the Ministry of Local Government, presented a paper entitled "The reality of youth political participation from a legal and procedural perspective", stressing local authorities' need for an effective youth force. He affirmed that there is no legal obstacle preventing young people from taking part in elections, explaining that the main reasons for their limited political participation are financial and procedural obstacles.

For his part, Mr. Salmi Al-Khawalda, a member of the leadership committee of the Fatah movement in Gaza, stressed that political strength lies in the strength of young people, that young people must claim their rights from society because they are the pillar of the future, and that change in Palestinian society requires harnessing their intellectual and physical strength to change their own lives and their society.

At the end of the meeting, participants put forward a set of recommendations, the most important of which were:

• Raising young people's awareness of their political rights, particularly the elections law.
• Exempting young people from election fees.
• An electronic application through which young people and local government bodies work together to record all irregularities and obstacles that occur.
• Developing implementation plans to change the reality of young people, and establishing a youth committee within local authorities to raise young people's voice.
• Developing curricula that explain political participation and the elections law in schools and universities.
• Establishing a department in every municipality to receive young people's creative ideas and work on developing them.
• Establishing youth councils mirroring local authorities in their structure and functions, giving young people the opportunity to take part in local government.
• Forming youth electoral lists for effective and successful participation, strengthening young people's rights to stand and to vote in local authority elections.