Workshops

Al-Quds University hosted Dr. Mahmoud Sharif Bassiouni, the jurist in international criminal law, international human rights and humanitarian law delivered a lecture on "International Criminal Court".

Dr. Imad Abu Kishek; Al-Quds University President; was in Dr. Bassiouni reception. Dr. Abu Kishek stressed the importance of international presence in the heart of Jerusalem which reflects compassion towards the Palestinian cause. Also this presence plays role in providing professors, lawyers and professionals with important information about criminal laws especially information that is offered to the International Criminal Court.

The lecture was started by Dr. Rafiq Abu Ayyash; a law professor at Al-Quds University; who presented an overview of the biography of Dr. Bassiouni; where he noted that Dr. Bassiouni is one of the biggest legal personalities in the world, in addition to taking 22 different positions in the United Nations since 1975. Some of these include; the Chairman of the Council Security at the United Nations to investigate war crimes in Yugoslavia and many other tasks in the same context. He has also authored 24 different books.

Dr. Bassiouni talked about his own experience in the drafting of the Charter of Rome court, his experience as the chief overseeing many inquiry commissions of war crimes, he also answered questions about the legal aspects related to the admission of Palestine to Rome treaty.

This lecture comes as part of developing a Masters program in criminal law at Al-Quds University and Al-Najah University. Another Masters program is being developed in Financial and Economic Law at Birzeit University, which is managed by Dr. Abu Ayyash.

The seminar was attended by Dr. Ali Muhanna; the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial council; Hussein Shabane; the head of lawyers; Ahmed Alsayyad; the former head of lawyers, managers along with heads of human rights organizations, the deans of the Law faculties in Palestinian universities, a large number of legal specialists as well as professors and students.

Workshop on “Criminal protection for women in National and International legislation”.

Activity Description: On Saturday 28^th February, in the Moot Court of the Faculty of Law, Dr. Shalalde conducted a seminar entitled “Criminal protection for women in National and International legislation”.

Considering the highly relevant subject of the discussion, the seminar was intended to gather not only a wide participation of students and faculty members, but also local experts, representing local institutions. The agenda of the seminar was studied in order to give every speaker the opportunity to present their papers and express their point of view and eventually encourage discussion and exchange of ideas.

Here it follows the list of speeches:

Dr. Ibrahim Sha’ban, Dean of the Faculty of Law, gave his welcome to the participants and officially opened the seminar by introducing the speakers.
Mr. Ismael Hammad, Legal Advisor for the Ministry of Women Affairs, was the first speaker of the day. His speech was based on a research he conducted and submitted for the event: “Local mechanisms for the settlement of CEDAW in criminal and general legislation.
Mr. Ahmad Barrak, Assistant to the Public Prosecutor, followed the previous speech. His presentation focused on the very delicate issue of “honor-killing”, and was based on the following research he wrote: “Decrees issued by the Palestinian President's decision in the law relating to the killing of women, the honor-killing.”
Ms. Lamyaa Shalalda, is a prominent expert in women's affairs and represented, in this occasion she represented the “Women Centre for Legal Aid”. Her speech was entitled “Women in armed conflicts - Article 1325”. To facilitate the discussion also to the students, copies of the article 1325 were distributed among the participants.
This speech was followed by the presentations of two cases studies by JRs and Judges, Mr. Mohammed Ajlouni and Mr. Issa Jbour. The two speakers share the condition of being at the same time Judges, who are already integrated within the Palestinian Judicial System, and JRs, who intend to improve their own personal knowledge of the Judiciary, by researching and keeping up-to-date their skills, with the final aim of enhancing the quality of Palestinian legal system. During their presentation, they proved their commitment to these aim and showed the practical side of their work, by describing two different cases, which were presented in Court.
After the presentation of each speech, a lively discussion was opened and moderated by Dr. Shalalde. Students and faculty members showed their sincere interest in the subject.
After the debate ended a lunch was arranged for the guests.

Figure 1: From left to right: Judge Mohammed Ajlouni, Legal Consultant Ismael Hammad from Ministry of Women Affairs, Prosecutor Assistant Ahmad Barrak, Pr. Moh’d Shalalde, Pr. Ibrahim Sha’ban Dean, Ms. Lamyaa Shalalde & Judge Issa Jbour.