Gaza-Press House
On Thursday, January 28, 2021, Press House organized a round table discussion on the topic of “Towards Better Respect for Freedom of Expression Principles” as part of “Journalists Have Power” project activities, funded by the Government of Canada.
With consideration of high preventive measures to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19, Ms. Hanadi Olwan, coordinator of Journalists Have Power project, lawyer Abdullah Sharshra, coordinator of the Legal Protection Unit for Journalists at Press House and a group of journalists and media professionals, participated in the round table discussion.
Ms. Hanadi Olwan welcomed and introduced the participants to the project idea which aims to increase legal awareness and protection of Journalists (women and men).
Mr. Abdullah Sharshra, addressed three aspects to talk about the challenges that media practitioners facing regarding their rights to freedom of opinion and expression; what measures must be taken by official authorities to ensure better implementation of the principles of freedom of opinion and expression? Do freedom of opinion and expression and freedom to accessing the information that contribute to improve the quality of Government?
The round table included many participations and recommendations from participants; most of them focused on the absence of independence for the Palestinian judiciary and the political and economic situation that affected media institutions which caused to close them, and its necessary to have a clear and frank laws endorsed by Palestinian Legislative Council related to journalistic work, as well as improve the laws that protecting Journalists (women and men) and media freedom in Palestine.
Mr. Abdullah Sharshra, concluded the round table discussion noting that Press House opened recently a Legal Protection Unit which aims to contribute enhancing media freedoms by protecting the rights of journalists (women and men) and raising legal awareness between journalists by holding specialized legal workshops, training courses and providing legal advice also, a legal auditing services for journalists and monitoring of violations against media freedom.
