The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) is holding its second training course starting on Wednesday, April 24, on “Empowering Duty Bearers of Sharia Judges to Protect the Rights of Abused Women,” as part of the project “Improving Justice Sector Services for Abused Women in the Gaza Strip.”

Ms. Islah Hassaniya, Chairperson of the Center’s Board of Directors, opened the training course and welcomed the attendees from the Sharia Courts. She explained the work of the CWLRCP and the Hayat Center for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Families, which work continuously to serve women and provide them with comprehensive and integrated protection. She pointed out the importance of joint cooperation with the Sharia judiciary to protect the rights of abused women.

For his part, Dr. Saeed Abu al-Jubain, Head of the Technical Office and Judicial Inspection and member of the Supreme Sharia Court, expressed the importance of the training course to achieve benefit in some issues of concern to women, which aim to reach justice, in addition to the importance of judges knowing international conventions and issues of gender-based violence, and clarifying the importance of agreements aimed at protecting the family in accordance with Islamic Sharia. He noted that the laws applied in the Gaza Strip have not been developed to suit the times and its requirements, especially in view of the existing regional countries, which differ from the laws we have.

The project coordinator, Ms. Wafa Helles, indicated that the training will include the presentation of many topics that were identified in consultation with the Supreme Council of the Sharia Judiciary, as follows: (International Conventions, Gender-Based Violence, Implementation Problems, Comments on the Personal Status Law, Challenges and the Right of Women to Access Justice, the most prominent types of women’s cases before the Sharia judiciary). She explained that the training targets (22) judges from Sharia courts in the five governorates of the Gaza Strip, and that the duration of the training is (9) training days, with a total of (27) hours, at a rate of (3) hours per day.