Yesterday, His Eminence Judge Dr. Hassan Al-Joujou, President of the Supreme Sharia Judicial Council in Gaza, announced the formation of a preparatory committee to issue a resolution regarding the visitation of children in custody.

This announcement came at the conclusion of a workshop organized yesterday by The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP), in cooperation with the Supreme Sharia Judicial Council in Gaza, as part of the “Women Forward Forum” project funded by the German Heinrich Böll Foundation. The workshop aimed to discuss the procedures and mechanisms for the visitation of children in custody.

The workshop was attended by judges from the Supreme Judicial Council, Sharia court judges, employees of the Family Counseling Department, a number of lawyers, representatives of concerned human rights and official institutions, and directors of police stations in the Gaza Strip.

For her part, Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi, Director of The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP), emphasized the importance of the workshop, stressing the need to adopt the best interests of the child. She explained that police stations are not the appropriate place for fathers to meet their children, even if they are in dispute, as this harms the future of children who are psychologically affected by this situation.

His Eminence Dr. Hassan Al-Joujou clarified in his speech that the law is not rigid and is not composed of Quranic texts that are difficult to change. He stressed the need to acknowledge the suffering of children in custody when they are in police stations to see their parents, stating: “There is a major problem with children seeing their fathers in police stations. This is a negative issue for the child and will cause psychological complications. We must deal with the issue of visitation in a civilized manner, and our philosophy is that the child spends two hours with their parents in a comfortable and calm atmosphere.” At the same time, he stressed the need for everyone to work on the idea of finding a family meeting place.