PalThink Academy young trainers have organized an awareness workshop entitled “Human Rights and Political Participation” at Khtwa Association for Community Development in North Gaza Governorate.

The workshop comes within the “PalThink Academy for Democracy and Human Rights – Phase II” project, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by ifa’s Funding Programme zivik. The project had trained a group of youth to organize a series of awareness workshops in partnership with institutions and civil organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.

Faiq Mohsen opened the workshop by welcoming the attendees, introducing the Academy and its main objectives, and talking about the goals of the meeting and its significance in raising awareness about human rights and political participation among Palestinian youth.

In her turn, Mai Afifa started with an ice-breaking activity, building a dialogue around the concepts of human rights and political participation. Abdullah Abu Shaar elaborated in detail on the concepts of human rights and the principles that international laws and treaties seek to ensure for all humans equally.

He discussed the historical development stages of human rights: civil and political rights (the first generation of rights), economic and social rights (the second generation of rights), and environmental, cultural, and developmental rights (the third generation of rights).

Faiq Mohsen continued the workshop by explaining the concept of political participation and its relevance to the reality of Palestinian youth, as well as the importance of social and political engagement.

The young trainers then discussed mechanisms for enhancing community and political participation among youth. They also addressed ways to empower youth and the main causes of youth disengagement from political participation.