Over 300 participants attended the national conference that was organized by TRC and Hurriyat in commemoration of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Day “17th of April”. The conference was held in the Best Eastern Hotel’s main hall in Al-Bireh city on the 12th of April 2011. The event is organized within the frame of a 3-year EC co-funded project titled “Sustaining and enhancing comprehensive service delivery for Victims of Torture” in the West Bank”. The European Union is contributing 80% of the project’s budget of an amount of 1,200,000 Euros.
The main objective of this conference was to come up with action-oriented recommendations and efficient mechanisms to enact the implementation of the International laws and conventions related to Palestinian Prisoners’ cause with a focus on ailing and longest held Prisoners in the Israeli dentention centers where hundreds suffer from dangerous and chronic diseases. The conference also aims at shedding light on the kind of treatment services and medications provided by the Israeli Prison Services
for the detainees, which, according to the Ministry of Ex-detainees Affairs and substantiated attestations made by Palestinian ex-detainees and their families, have always led to the aggravation of symptoms of the physical and mental illness suffered instead of mitigating them.
At the opening session of the Conference, two welcome speeches were given. The first was on behalf of the Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad, and was delivered by Mr. Issa karake, the Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs, while the second was from Dr. Mahmoud Sehwail, the Executive President of
TRC.
In his Intervention, Mr. Karake indicated the role played by the PNA and the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs in Internationalizing the Palestinian Prisoners’ cause. He also discussed the suffering the ailing and longest held detainees face in addition to presenting some statistics in this regard. Furthermore, Dr. Sehwail indicated the seriousness and urgency of this issue. Dr. Sehwail also stressed on the importance of existence of supervising and watching commissions to monitor such cases.
He discussed the lack of medical care especially for those who suffer from chronic diseases and briefed the obstacles faced by humanitarian medical crews that impede and even prevent the provision of medical care.
He ended his intervention with a briefing on the role played and services provided by TRC to the exdetainees and especially victims of torture.
The other interventions and presentations of the conference concentrated on a variety of related themes including the enacting of prisoners cause at all levels with a special focus on ailing and longest held detainees, the necessity to unify the national and international efforts regarding this issue, and the necessity to adopt an action plan for the campaign in order to attain the aspirations.
