On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, the NGO Development Center (NDC), the Human Rights and Good Governance (HR/GG) Secretariat, held the first discussion meeting of the HR/GG Forum. The event took place at the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Al Bireh, Ramallah. The forum was attended by more than 30 NGOs operating in the Palestinian Occupied Territories (oPt) and representatives of donor countries.
The first session of the forum was carried out by Bimkom- Planners for Planning Rights and included a presentation and discussion of Bimkom recent research into Israeli planning policies in Area C. The subject of the discussion was about the use of physical planning by the State of Israel as a tool to control land resources and limit the development of Palestinian communities. The participants enriched the discussion by expressing their views and support to Bimkom’s activities and highlighted the importance of holding such meetings more frequently.
The secretariat intends to hold further meetings covering topics related to the work of the HR/GG NGOs. The meetings will serve as a roundtable for NGO partners to raise HR/GG related issues for debate and discussion among partners, donors and other officials as necessary.
