The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) Concludes First Training for Reconciliation Judges in Regular Courts, Aiming to Empower Duty-Bearers to Protect the Rights of Abused Women

The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) concluded a training program targeting reconciliation judges in the regular courts. This training is the first in a series planned for this year with the (Regular Judiciary, Sharia Judiciary, Public Prosecution, Health sector), as part of the project “Improving Justice Sector Services for Abused Women in the Gaza Strip.”

Professor Wafaa Helles, the project coordinator, explained that the aim of the training is to empower duty-bearers from the regular judiciary to protect the rights of abused women. She noted that (29) reconciliation judges in the regular courts were targeted, including (2) female judges and (27) male judges, noting that coordination is underway to implement training for two groups targeting judges from the (Supreme Court, Appeals Court, Primary Court).

She indicated that the training was conducted over (11) days, with a total of (33) training hours, at a rate of (3) hours per day. During the training, a number of topics and issues were presented that serve the interests of women, including: (International Agreements, Gender, Analysis and Commentary on Civil and Criminal Judgments Issued Against Women, Electronic Violence and Ways to Confront it, Crimes of Femicide and the Culture of Society, Investigation Skills in Crimes of Femicide, Execution Problems, Gender-Based Violence). She explained that these topics were chosen based on a prior needs assessment of the judges, and the trainers were selected based on their experience and high competence in the training topics.

The judges emphasized the importance of the training and the topics that were discussed, especially the new topics for them related to women’s issues, the violence they are subjected to, and international agreements.

At the conclusion of the training, the judges were honored and certificates were distributed by Professor Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi, Director of the Center, with the participation of Dr. Ashraf Nasrallah, Judge of the Supreme Court in Gaza, and Dr. Nafiz Al-Madhoun, Dean of the Higher Judicial Institute of Palestine.