A file photo of a children's rights conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
PCHR criticized government interference in private meetings on Thursday after
it said Gaza police shut down a video conference on women's rights in the
coastal strip. (MaanImages/Haytham Othman, File)
PCHR criticized government interference in private meetings on Thursday after
it said Gaza police shut down a video conference on women's rights in the
coastal strip. (MaanImages/Haytham Othman, File)
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A rights group condemned on Thursday the closure of a video conference on women's rights by police in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the two-day event was shut down as it opened Tuesday morning, when police cut the video connection and ordered the evacuation of the venue in Gaza's Red Crescent Society.
The conference on labor rights for women was organized by the Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (Musawa), connecting the West Bank and Gaza via video link, the PCHR statement said.
PCHR said the event coordinator had notified police of the event two days prior. He told PCHR that the Ministry of Interior said the conference was shut down because it did not include Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the program, the statement added.
The rights group called on the government and security services to stop interfering in private meetings, and said the law on prior police notification applied only to meetings of more than 50 people in an open place, and thus not to this event.
Shutting down Musawa's event "constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly which are ensured under the constitution," PCHR said.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the two-day event was shut down as it opened Tuesday morning, when police cut the video connection and ordered the evacuation of the venue in Gaza's Red Crescent Society.
The conference on labor rights for women was organized by the Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (Musawa), connecting the West Bank and Gaza via video link, the PCHR statement said.
PCHR said the event coordinator had notified police of the event two days prior. He told PCHR that the Ministry of Interior said the conference was shut down because it did not include Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the program, the statement added.
The rights group called on the government and security services to stop interfering in private meetings, and said the law on prior police notification applied only to meetings of more than 50 people in an open place, and thus not to this event.
Shutting down Musawa's event "constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly which are ensured under the constitution," PCHR said.
Maan News Agency
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