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About us
The
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) was founded in
December 1996 in response to the deteriorating state of democracy
and human rights under the newly established Palestinian
Authority. The group was founded by a diverse group of
well-established Palestinians, including Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) members, newspaper editors, journalists, a union
leader, veteran human rights activists and religious leaders. The
political composition of its founders is diverse - including
members of many Palestinian organizations and institutions -
thereby ensuring the non-partisan character of the organization.
The
PHRMG documents human rights violations committed against
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem,
regardless of who is responsible. In effect, the PHRMG has
dedicated much of its work to the monitoring of human rights
violations committed by the Palestinian Authority. The PHRMG has
instituted a number of projects to deal with the ongoing human
rights violations. The projects include monitoring unit, freedom
of expression and democracy center, settlers watch hotline and
legal unit, etc… Our future projects in the coming two years
include peace building development, peace building and conflict
resolution monitoring, reforms to the Palestinian judicial system,
democracy center, public education and out reach unit, etc…
The
PHRMG believes that in spite of the ongoing Israeli occupation of
the Palestinian Territories and the need to denounce Israeli human
rights abuses, such scrutiny is essential in the current process
of state building, to ensure that the future Palestinian State
will be a truly democratic one. In the long run, the protection of
human rights can only strengthen the Palestinian Authority.
Due
to the absence and/or poor reliability of traditional democratic
mechanisms, the PHRMG's principle strategy since its
foundation has been to appeal to Palestinian public opinion and to
international opinion in order to bring about positive change in
the human rights situation. Violations of Palestinian human rights
by both Palestinian and Israeli authorities persist with little
accountability and, for the foreseeable future, the PHRMG will
maintain and improve upon its traditional human rights monitoring
and outreach activities.
PHRMG
Relationship with the International, Local Community
The PHRMG maintains strong ties with international human rights
groups, media and donors. Their cooperation and partnership has
proved vital to PHRMG’s outreach and support internationally, as
well as to PHRMG’s ability to maintain its high degree of
independence at home. As illustrations; Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and Reporters without Borders regularly utilize
PHRMG unpublished and published research for their reports. Since
1999, PHRMG director Bassem Eid gave 220 interviews to
international media.
About
Monitoring Unit
Our monitoring unit provides the monitoring and research base for
PHRMG human rights outreach and legal activities. Field
researchers located throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
divide their responsibilities into their geographic areas.
Researcher responsibilities include keeping abreast of local
developments, pursuing long-term monitoring tasks, and responding
to urgent human rights situations, in order to record the
eyewitness testimonies of victims, witnesses and other actors.
See the monitor in the icon of the monitor page
About
Outreach Unit
Our outreach unit works closely with the Monitoring Unit. One of
the main activities of the PHRMG is the publication of a
bi-monthly report; the Palestinian Human Rights Monitor. Each
edition of this publication has a particular focus: from torture
and unlawful detention to freedom of expression and the censorship
of the Palestinian press, or the right to education of Palestinian
children in East Jerusalem. The Monitor has now earned a
reputation for the quality, accuracy and objectivity of its
reports. 1'000 English copies of the report are available for
subscription in the form of a magazine, and 26'000 Arabic copies
are distributed freely throughout the West Bank, the Gaza Strip
and East Jerusalem, in the hope to educate the Palestinian public
and to strengthen democracy and the role of civil society.
Other Outreach activities include facilitating local and
international media access to human rights issues in Palestine,
initiating dialogue activities with institutions responsible for
human rights violations, and implementing special projects. The
PHRMG also maintains an extensive website - both in Arabic and in
English - to grant wide access to all the publications of the
Monitor, unpublished reports, and additional data and statistics
collected by the organization.
About
Bassem Eid
The PHRMG derives great strength from the experience of its
Executive Director, Bassem Eid. Mr. Eid worked as the senior
fieldworker for the Israeli information center in the occupying
territories, B'Tselem for seven years. During this time, Mr. Eid
earned international recognition for his documentation and
publication of a wide range of human rights issues.
Mr. Eid is the co-author of the B'Tselem report on the
Palestinian Preventive Security Service, "Neither Law nor
Justice," and was involved in research for nearly every
B'Tselem publication from 1989 to 1996. In appreciation for his
work for B'Tselem and as a journalist, Mr. Eid was awarded the
1992 Emil Grunsweig Human Rights Award by the Association
for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
Mr. Eid was also awarded the 1996 McGill / InterAmicus Robert
S. Litvak Memorial Human Rights Award for his outspoken human
rights advocacy. More recently, in 1999, the Gleitsman
Foundation's Board of Judges presented Mr. Eid with the
International Activist Award, in recognition of "his long
effort to bring peace to the Middle East." This award was jointly
received with ten other activists, including Mahmoud Abbas; Abu
Mazen, Yossi Beilin, Faisal Husseini, Ahmed Qurei; Abu Ala and Uri
Savir. 2002 nformazione Senza Frontiere (Information Without
Boundaries), granted by an Italian organization for freedom of
press in the world in Siena-Italy.
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