MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

As part of its, “Enhancing Women’s Access to Security Services and Social Accountability in Palestine”, in cooperation with UNDP/PAP, MIFTAH capped off a series of hearings and training workshops on various subjects. It also released an analytical study on police services and procedures and the “Ra’yon Akhar” annex. These were all aimed at shedding light on issues pertaining to promoting measures for women’s access to justice, including the protection and security sectors. They were also aimed at promoting youth involvement in mechanisms of social accountability to express social issues that reflect the challenges women and marginalized groups face in accessing various services, in particular, protection and security. Youth involvement was apparent through a group of articles and reports prepared and written by young journalists, some of who received training at MIFTAH on the use of the media in social accountability.

Women’s rights… between reality and the law

In this context, MIFTAH held two hearings entitled “Women’s rights, between reality and the law’, one in Hebron and the other in Nablus. Representatives from the Palestinian Civil Police were present as were representatives from the governorates, the media, legal experts and civil society activists.

The participants in the two hearings recommended that acceptable standards are formulated through allowing tribal leaders to continue the custom of reconciliation but obligating them to reconcile according to the law, providing training for them in this regard. The role of the law would be enacted and enforced on all, women and men, with integrity and transparency. The independence of Palestinian law must also be reconfirmed so it is purely Palestinian and coincides with the Palestinian condition. The culture of dialogue and discussion in society should be spread, especially within the family; work of community police clarified; interaction between them and rights institutions; women must be given a role through laws and legislations which do them justice; demanding the President to take a firm and clear stance on so-called “honor killings” of women.

MIFTAH’s Nablus coordinator Abeer Kilani spoke of the importance of the discussions that took place during the hearing, which was attended by representatives from the police and officials from the Nablus governorate. The discussion revolved around violence against women and how it has expanded without any deterrent measures or laws to stymie it and hence barring women from obtaining their rights to security and justice services. This is also due to the lack of a clear personal status law, in particular ways of dealing with issues related to divorce, which detracts from women’s value. In addition, there are certain procedures and social and economic factors that prevent women from resorting to the justice system.

Kilani pointed to some of the recommendations from this hearing session, including: the establishment of a women’s pressure and lobby movement that does not depend on any funding; pressuring the PLC to exercise its role or resign; demanding that President Mahmoud Abbas ratify certain laws that preserve women’s rights in a climate which harbors many injustices against them; reaffirming the importance of raising awareness and integrating gender in Sharia courts.

“Your right to justice and security”

Furthermore, MIFTAH completed its broadcast of the radio talk program “Your right to justice and security”, which ran in six episodes over a six-week period on Voice of Palestine. It began last March 8 in order to shed light on women’s access to security services.

The topics discussed in the episodes revolved round the legal procedures followed by the police, especially regarding women, the protection centers for women and safe houses, the women’s component in the Palestinian police, the community police and its role, international agreements and their compatibility within police institutions.

Representatives from the PCP participated in the radio episodes along with decision makers such as Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and activists from civil society institutions, to discuss ways of promoting women’s access to security in Palestine and the role of the police and civil society in improving the situation of women in accessing services in the security sector.

Salma Fuqaha, who prepared and presented the program for MIFTAH, says the program’s importance lies in enabling women to access security and justice services; that is, to be able to reach the PCP and receive the necessary services to achieve justice for them. That is why each of the episodes focused on an important point, presented and explained information and highlighted the nature of the procedures in order to access these security and justice services. The first episode coincided with International Women’s Day celebrations on March 8 and focused on the definition of police services offered to women. They also spoke about the program “Sawasya”, its goals and its achievements at the level of justice and security, along with the role of civil society organizations in promoting women’s access to these services. The subsequent episodes focused on the following: legal procedures adopted by the police; the number of administrations women must go through before obtaining their rights; other subjects pertaining to women’s protection centers, referral mechanisms within the national referral system, the scope of a women’s presence in the police establishment, society’s perception of a women’s police force; the definition of community police; ways of opening up the police establishment to civil society organizations, and mechanisms of cooperation between it and the media.

In conclusion, the interaction with the program’s episodes was positive, especially by the guests, in terms of subject matters that had never been broached before, some of which were addressed during the discussions and calls into the program.

Leadership and decision-making mechanisms

MIFTAH also conducted another training workshop on “Leadership and decision-making mechanisms” which targeted 16 officers from various PCP police units (eight males and eight females), in the West Bank. The goal was to promote the participation of civil society in the rule of law and in Palestinian society aiming to achieve justice and social accountability.

Developing participant awareness

MIFTAH project coordinator, Abeer Zaghari said the objective of this course was to develop the participants’ awareness on concepts pertaining to transformative leadership from a gender perspective. A number of mechanisms were adopted that assume the participatory approach through a multitude of techniques such as: brainstorming, working groups, role playing, thought exercises and kinesthetic exercises. The application of the ‘participatory approach” technique of brainstorming led to group discussions and role playing and also created a climate of interactive relations between the participants.

Challenges and obstacles

Nevertheless, gender expert Fida’ Barghouthi indicated that the analysis results of the pre-survey in comparison to the post-survey showed a tangible rise in knowledge among participants regarding gender issues, techniques of transformative leadership and decision-making mechanisms. Hence, Barghouthi recommended the need for further meetings with a larger number of police officers on the concept of transformative leadership in their workplaces. She also recommended that training workshops should be held with the administrations within the police establishment to discuss the obstacles, problems and needs in their work and to draft training programs that coincide with these obstacles and problems.

Participant comments

Many participants said the training workshops were able to convey information clearly and concisely, while others said they now had more correct knowledge of skills on transformative and conventional leadership, not to mention that all of them were pleased with the interactive nature of the activities. “The training gave us an opportunity to express our problems with the leadership; we now know what we want.”

Recommendations

The participants produced several recommendations, including: lengthening the duration of the training course so they could learn more information on transformative leadership; conducting meetings with police commanders and with those working in the field; briefing the public on the achievements of the police. “We want to know our rights and our duties”

Moreover, MIFTAH launched a media campaign over social network sites in the form of a creative youth competition entitled: “We want to know our rights and duties”. The competition targeted youth between the age of 18-35, inviting them to participate by designing creative posters or making short films on the subject of social accountability from a youth perspective. MIFTAH received several entries, all of which were evaluated and the winner announced.

Analytical study on police services and procedures At the end of April, MIFTAH completed a measurement and analysis study on the “PCP services and procedures” from the viewpoint of the beneficiaries and from a gender perspective. This was followed by a workshop to launch the findings of the study, which was attended by a number of civil society institutions and representatives from the Palestinian Civil Police.

MIFTAH also held a public policy entitled: “Enhancing women’s access to security services” which several decision-makers attended along with influential individuals at the national level and within the PCP. The participants produced a number of important results and outcomes which promote the role of the police and develop their services towards the targeted groups and towards women accessing good security services.

The main researcher for the study, Shatha Odeh said that the importance of this study lies in the fact that it could be the first of its kind and different from those that preceded it in that it revolved around the viewpoints of citizens who interacted with the police’s service units, thereby forming their own positions based on their experiences. The study touched on police procedures in the police’s traffic units, narcotics, family protection, investigations and detention units, expressing the extent to which these procedures are motivators for women to turn to the police.

Odeh continues that the study’s significance is also because it highlights the positive points as well as those which need development in terms of the procedures, so they completely fulfill the needs of citizens while still taking into consideration the differences in security needs between men and women. It also addressed the level of satisfaction towards these procedures as well as highlighting the obstacles that face the police, which prevent them from fulfilling all security needs for reasons both within their control and others beyond it.

The hope is that the results of this study will allow for the development of policies and interventions to make services and procedures more just, fair and gender-responsive including the security needs and interest of women. Hopefully, the study’s results and recommendations will be seriously considered so they can be benefited from, whether by the police themselves through developing their work, or at the level of civil society organizations (such as MIFTAH) in supporting the development of police work and directing donors towards supporting developmental programs for police, including UNDP/PAP and other donors interested in the police/security sector.

The “Ra’yon Akhar” Annex

Meanwhile, MIFTAH issued a new edition of its annex “Ra’yon Akhar” at the end of April. The edition shed light on women’s access to security through several articles and reports prepared by young journalists, some of whom received training with MIFTAH on ways of employing the media in social accountability.

The edition’s front page included an exclusive interview with Ms. Randa Siniora, Director General of the Women’s Center for Legal and Social Counseling, which addressed several important issues. The most significant of these included the noticeable advancement in the work of the official Palestinian establishment in dealing with women’s issues, the need for the law to protect families from violence and the role of civil society institutions given that they are tools for change, complementary to the official role.

The other pages addressed several subject matters such as rights between legal and tribal rulings, complaints as a citizen’s right and violence against women, in addition to the release of a study by MIFTAH in tandem with the annex’s edition, entitled, “Measuring and analyzing the services and procedures of Palestinian police in the West Bank from the perspective of the public and from a gender perspective.” This is in addition to addressing the topic of women in the face of cyber-crimes and a special report on the “Family and minors protection unit in the Palestinian police.”

Finally, MIFTAH Program director Lamis Hantouli pointed to the program “Promoting social participation”, saying the organization’s achievements at the level of women accessing protection and security services is an indication of a real need to continue pressure towards adopting procedures and policies that would motivate and encourage women to turn to these protection and security facilities. She continued that this responsibility does not lie solely with the police establishment but also with decision makers as part of the justice and security sector. It also lies with civil society, she said, in its various components to ensure that women can surpass obstacles in their demand for security, safety and protection, in addition to contributing to the creation of a motivating environment based on the principle of social accountability to obtain rights and renounce violence.

 
 
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