Gaza - Press House
On Thursday, December 10, 2020, Press House – Palestine (BAS) organized a dialogue session on the topic of "Media Freedoms in Palestine" on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
The meeting was held at Gaza, in presence of a number of students and graduates of the faculties of journalism and media, with consideration of high preventive measures to prevent the outbreak of Coronavirus, as part of “Strengthening Free & Independent Media in Palestine” Project activities.
The project coordinator at Press House welcomed the attendance, stressing the need to strengthen human rights concepts and concepts related to international humanitarian law and that the journalist should be familiar with some legal materials directly related to his journalistic work.
Mr. Abdullah Sharshra (Consultant Legal Unit at Press House) in his paper on the topic of "The Legal Environment of Media in Palestine - Law and Violations" explained that October 2020 witnessed more than 252 violations of media freedoms in Palestine, and that the Corona pandemic led to a decrease in the number of violations compared to previous years.
Mr. Sharshra pointed out that the legal reality requires the journalist to be familiar with the legal and judicial system in the Gaza Strip, in order to protect himself from the risk of breaking the law.
From his part, lawyer Hamza Derdes spoke about the reality of journalists with disabilities in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that the journalist of persons with disabilities faces challenges doubly sometimes because he is a journalist and because he is disabled.
Mr. Derdes noted the challenges faced by journalists with disabilities, including the lack of awareness among various media faculties about the need to involve persons with disabilities in the media field, as well as the lack of adaptation of curriculum in universities for persons with disabilities who study media specialization.
Participants submitted recommendations, including the need to provide opportunities for and employ journalists with disabilities by at least 5%, and the need for disability institutions to implement awareness programmes targeting the media to raise awareness.
