Ramallah - On Saturday 31st January, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) held an open meeting in Ramallah city, to discuss the best ways to enhance the status of freedom of expression through a healthy legal environment.
Important personalities participated in the meeting, such as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministerial Council for Legal Affairs Mr. Fawwaz Abu Zirr, the Chairman of the Palestinian Bar Association Mr. Hussein Shabaneh, and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information Dr. Mahmoud Khalifa, in addition to tens of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, journalists and representatives of different civil society organizations.
Three important topics were discussed in the meeting, presented by the Constitutional Law lecturer Mr. Mohammad Khader, the lawyer Ra’ed Abdul Hamid, and the journalist Mohammad Abu Arqoub. They focused on the relation between the media and the judiciary as well as journalists’ protections and freedom of publications. They also discussed the obstacles to the respect of the privacy and media freedoms during legal interrogations and court sessions.
MADA Chairman Dr. Ghazi Hanania said that those guilty of attacks against media freedoms in Palestine are first and foremost the Israeli occupation forces. The number of Israeli media violations reached their peak last year, especially during the attack on Gaza which killed 17 journalists and media workers.
Dr. Hanania emphasized the importance of the step taken by the President of Palestine Mr. Mahmoud Abbas in signing several international treaties, especially the Geneva agreements and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He also emphasized that our laws and legislation should get along with those international agreements, especially those related to freedom of expression, which is also guaranteed in the Palestinian Basic Law.
He added: “Having a healthy legal environment for the media is one of our goals, because it is an urgent need to improve the Palestinian media and freedom of expression.”
He mentioned the harassment of journalists and activists for their writings on social media, saying that officials and leaders should be open and accept criticism. He also said that journalists should commit to their profession’s standards and codes of ethic.
Mr. Abu Zirr ensured that the Palestinian Authority is committed to protect freedom of expression, together with other human rights, through the Palestinian law. He also pointed out that the Right to Access Information draft law is going to be enacted soon, and that other international agreements related to freedoms and human rights will be signed.
He also said that the Palestinian Authority is committed to democracy and human rights as per international agreements, and mentioned the elements of the Palestinian Basic Law that protect freedom of the media and freedom of expression.
Mr. Shabaneh emphasized the importance of exposing the violations and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation, and of urging to hold Israel accountable. He also talked about the importance of the mutual relations and cooperation between different actors to achieve this goal, pointing at the role played by lawyers and journalists in this regard.
He called for a quick enactment of the Right to Access Information law because of its importance to improve freedom of expression.
Participants discussed at length the topics of media freedoms and freedom of expression. They recommended an end to the detention of journalist for issues related to freedom of expression, the activation of a previous decision of having judges specialized in the field of freedom of expression, and the reconsideration of the complaints related to social media (especially Facebook).
They repeated the need to enact the Right to Access Information law soon.
This meeting is part of the project “Defending Freedom of Expression through a Healthy Legal Environment” which is funded by the European Union.
