Capacity Building of Lawyers in Dealing with Gender Issues
Nablus: Saturday, 15 October 2011 – In cooperation with the Palestinian Bar Association (PBA), the Institute of Law (IoL) at Birzeit University has launched a specialised training course on Capacity Building of Lawyers in Dealing with Gender Issues.
As part of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women in the occupied Palestinian territory, six UN Agencies, namely UNDP/PAPP, UN-Women, ILO, UNESCO, UNFPA and UNRWA, are implementing a Joint Programme funded by the Government of Spain on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, covering the period 2009-2012. The Program aims to achieve three major Outcomes:
1. Reducing gender based violence and all form of violence against women and the girl child;
2. Increasing the representation of women’s and women’s issues in decision making bodies;
3. Advancing equal opportunities for women’s economic participation, especially women survivors of gender based violence.
With reference to the planned project’s outputs which aim to “Strengthen the capacity to provide refuge, security, and access to justice” and “Organize training and workshops to raise awareness on gender in local authorities and related NGOs”, UNDP seeks to:
1. Develop specialised curricula and training material and conduct training for judges, lawyers and prosecutors on gender issues and the provision of assistance to victims of violence and gender based violence.
2. Provide gender awareness training to local government staff in 15 districts to develop their capacity on mainstreaming gender in district development planning and service provision.
Mrs. Samar Abdu Bali, Project Legal Assistant, inaugurated the training course. Highlighting its significance, Mrs. Samar stated that the training seminar is part of the ongoing, multifaceted cooperation between the IoL and PBA. The training is designed to upgrade legal structures and enhance lawyers’ capacities in new themes through continuing legal education and training. In this vein, the seminar will focus on subjects of interest to lawyers in their profession. In particular, it analyses practical cases and regulations from a gender based perspective, including the Penal Law, Penal Procedure Law, Personal Status Law, and Labour Law.
Taking place over 15-19 October 2011, the training course will bring together 40 lawyers from the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin, Qalqiliya, Tubas and Salfit. In line with the course programme, distinguished, specialist trainers will provide training in a number of relevant areas.
