Civil Society Activities Work Hand in Hand to Create a Nationally-Owned Vision for the Justice Sector in Palestine
Ramallah – On Tuesday, 3 June 2008, an extensive meeting involving a number of civil society organisations and national figures active in the justice sector was held at the offices of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (PICHR) in Ramallah and Gaza via videoconference. The meeting was attended by representatives of civil society organisations working in the justice sector, deans and professors at faculties of law at the Al Azhar, Al Quds and Birzeit Universities, interested national and academic figures, as well as representatives of the PICHR and the Attorney General's office.
In the meeting, participants agreed that involvement of the Palestinian Bar Association, civil society organisations and academic institutions in the planning for the justice sector will support operation of official authorities. Accordingly, the justice sector agencies will be further promoted as to achieve justice and safeguard human dignity.
Discussants also recommended that all previous justice sector-related reports and plan be reviewed and built on in order to produce a Palestinian nationally-owned plan of the justice sector. In this context, ad hoc committees will be established to elaborate on various components of the justice sector. These committees will address current problems and relevant solutions to develop a comprehensive, informed national plan for the justice sector. In line with their fields of activity and interests, institutions taking part in the meeting will nominate representative members on these committees. The proposed ad hoc committees will operate under technical terms of reference to be agreed on. Output of the committees will be presented within one month of operation.
In light of the current, delicate situation in the Gaza Strip and the exigent requirement that the aforesaid plan covers both all parts of the Palestinian territory, participants also agreed that representatives of civil society organisations in Gaza provide all committees with proposals and visions that take into account the current status of Gaza Strip. On the short term, these proposals will pave the way to develop work approaches for those committees working in the West Bank. The proposals will also entail solutions to avoid negative consequences of the current territorial fragmentation between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It is worth noting that this is the second meeting in a series of encounters held under auspices of the Initiative on Judicial Independence and Human Dignity (KARAMAH) at the Institute of Law – Birzeit University, a project implemented in partnership with the Faculty of Law at Windsor University in Canada. KARAMAH benefits from financial support provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
