The Palestinian Experience
with RIA
A Training for civil society workers in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Presented by: Munir Nuseibah, LL.M
Lecturer, The faculty of law
Al-Quds University
Occupied Palestine
Palestine is a fertile land for
change
• Active civil society
– Example: Youth Guardianship Law ‫قانون رعاية‬
‫ –الشباب‬later: Youth Law ‫قانون الشباب‬
– Problems
• Ex: volunteers needing a permit from the youth
ministry and municipality to volunteer!!!
– Activism
Legislation in Palestine
Copy-Paste
• Governmental employees law ‫قانون الخدمة المدنية‬
– Minimum salaries for governmental employees
• Labor Law ‫قانون العمل والعمال‬
– Minimum wages
– A ‘work accident’ includes car accidents
– Safety measures
Until today, many of the law’s articles are not being
implemented or enforced
Can’t implement it?
RULE OF LAW!
!‫سيادة القانون‬
DAI Training in Palestine
Phase I
• Target Group: Civil Society in the West Bank and
Gaza: NGOs and Universities – a say in the
legislative process
• A skilled trainer with practical experience –
interactive training program
• Questionnaire: what do you know about RIA?
• The participants had to prepare, before the
trainer arrived, an example of a law that failed
Phase I
RIA Case Study: A Palestinian
Welfare Legislation
• Each member of the trainees participating
in an RIA study
• Every step in the forming of the RIA study
took sufficient time
• Main Learning points:
– How to produce an RIA document
– The benefits of RIA
Between Phase I & Phase II
• 2 groups worked on 2
RIAs
– Ex. Free Medical Services
to children over 3 years
old.
– Result
• To increase the age of
Palestinians insured under
health insurance from 3
years to –eventuallyreach 18
• first will cover the age
group (4-7), the next
phase will be from (8-12),
and finally from (13-18).
Phase II
• Revision of Case studies
• Role Play– An RIA study with different stakeholders
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
President of Palestine
PLC members and president
Prime Minister’s Office
Ministers’ offices
Civil Society
Media
Private Sector Bodies
• Future of RIA in Palestine
• Presentations in couples
Key learning points at Phase II
“The Power of RIA”
• Using RIA as an advocacy tool
• Stakeholders’ contribution
• Knowing how to address each audience
with the RIA
Why RIA in Palestine, and the Arab
Region?
- “Scientific” tool for building and reforming the Palestinian
Legal System
- A Democratic tool– Consideration of all society sectors
and stakeholders. Impact assessment on Ethnic equality
- Impact assessment on Health
- Impact assessment on ------
- Not costly. Palestine has the capacity to start!
- No need for foreign Experts!
- Government closer to public– important to consult nongovernmental bodies
- Adaptable to any system
How to start?
• Local Capacity Building
• Forming a small team with legal,
economic, and other relevant experiences
represented
• A pilot project
Future of RIA in Palestine
• Further in-depth training
• Introductory training using existing experts
• Developing a Legislative Diploma course
• Developing a RIA Manual