A project to support Human Rights and Democracy in the Palestinian Occupied Territories was launched on Thursday, January 18, 2001 with the signing of the agreement between Birzeit University, represented by the President, Dr. Hanna Nasir, and the European Union, represented by the Deputy Representative Mr. Nadim Karkutli. The signing ceremony was held in the Institute of Law at Birzeit and was attended by representatives of various human rights organizations and other interested individuals.

The European Union has made a grant in the amount of 1.7 million Euro (US $ 1.6 million) to support the two-year project, under the framework of the EU’s MEDA Democracy Program. Birzeit University’s Institute of Law will be responsible for supervising the Project, which will be implemented by a number of leading Palestinian legal and human rights organizations. The project activities and implementing agencies are:

• Birzeit University Institute of Law - “Setting up a Criminal Justice System”
• The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights - “Public Awareness Campaign”
• Al Haq - “Building Public Awareness of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Legal Intervention on behalf of the HR violations”
• The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - Intervention and Reporting on behalf of victims of Human Rights Abuses in the Gaza Strip and fulfilling Phase II of the International Initiative”
• The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group - “Monitoring the State of Human Rights in Palestine”
• The Land and Water Establishment (LAW) - “Human Rights Education in the West Bank”

The main objectives of these projects are to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law in Palestine and to reinforce Palestinian civil society institutions.

In his speech, Dr. Nasir thanked the European Union for its show of trust and respect for Birzeit University’s by choosing Birzeit to administer the project. Dr. Nasir stated that “this agreement is the first of its kind in that the University will be managing grants for several other organizations and partners in Palestine. The responsibility entrusted in Birzeit indicates the confidence of the EU. I assume this confidence stems from our insistence on total transparency in our financial management of projects and the professionalism of out staff”. Dr. Nasir proceeded to congratulate the Institute of Law and thank the director, Dr. Ghassan Faramond and his colleagues for their efforts in developing the framework for the agreement.

The European Union deputy representative, Mr. Karkutly, stated that this project was developed before the recent unfortunate developments in the Palestinian territories and comes out of the EU’s interest in making a long term investment in strengthening Palestinian civil society. Mr. Karkutli also stated that the EU had initiated a similar programme last year to help Israeli human rights organizations monitor and counter Israeli violations of Palestinian rights on both sides of the Green Line.