The meeting was headed by Dr. Ghazi Hanania, Chairman of the Board, who emphasized the هةimportant role of the Center at the local and international levels, and all the center’s achievements over the past ten years.
The General Director of the Center, Mousa Al Rimawi, reviewed briefly the main points of the administrative report. BDO Accounting, Audit &Tax (Zeidan services) represented by the” legal auditor” Mr. Nabil Zeidan who reviewed the financial report (statement) and its vision for the status of the financial position and recommended that the center’s financial resources should be increased.
The administrative report illustrated that MADA continued to work within the framework of its four major programs (Monitoring and Documentation, Legal Unit, Support and Advocacy, Media Development and Digital Rights) despite the weak financial resources.
An overview of all various activities and events that have been implemented over the past year, Programs and objectives of the Center in the protection and promotion of media freedoms and freedom of opinion and expression, and the development of the media in Palestine.
Additionally, the administrative report also included the continued efforts, and activities in defending media freedoms, promoting freedom of expression, contributing to media development and the attempt to improve the legal environment for media in Palestine (law reform), achieved in 2016 a qualitative set of successes culminating efforts during 2016.
Besides, all MADA’s achievements throughout 2016, the center digital rights campaign won the Golden Award for the Best Media Campaign in the Middle East last year by WAN-IFRA. The center was also granted a special consultative status at the ECOSOC/UN. Furthermore, MADA’s general director was selected from the University of Oxford as a member of the Advisory group to oversee the preparation of the UNESCO report on global trends in freedom of expression and media development.
Aforementioned achievements were also combined with internal attainments, including the approval of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and prime minister Dr. Rami Alhamdallah to stop the enactment of the higher Council of media law, after the round table session organized by MADA center, with various attendees including number of civil and legal institutions, and the culture and information department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as, the approval of Attorney General Ahmed Barak during a meeting with the Center to assign specialized prosecutors to follow cases relating to freedom of opinion and expression. Noting that, MADA widened its circle of relations and partnerships (locally, regionally and internationally.
MADA’s General Assembly approved the financial and administrative 2016 reports after discussing them, and recommended the Board of Directors to give further attention to the Center's activities in Jerusalem. Besides, their demand to hold an urgent meeting for the General Assembly before the end of this year to discuss amendments tobylaw, to ensure it is in line with the qualitative progress MADA recently witnessed, and the changes in media scene locally and internationally.
Since its establishment, the Center has been holding its General Assembly meetings on a regular yearly basis. Its Board of Directors is elected every two years. Last year, the Board of Directors was elected.
