heks

 In a region where life is dominated by fierce conflicts, HEKS is helping to alleviate the negative effects of these conflicts and to promote an ideal of peace which is based on justice and the defence of human rights. HEKS partner organisations are working at several levels to solve the conflicts, investigating such issues as discrimination at work, improving the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons, but also interacting in the power struggles between the sexes and the generations in both societies.

By addressing subjects which are taboo in the public arena, HEKS partner organisations are advocating genuine social change.

Aims, points of focus, initiatives:

The aim of all HEKS programmes in Palestine/Israel is to defuse conflicts and to lessen their impact on the lives and conditions of the local people. The points of focus are as follows:

• To give disadvantaged sections of the population, such as young people, women and refugees, access to resources and education, thereby encouraging them to exercise their rights.
• To see civic organisations, which are committed to peace which respects the human rights of all the people living in Palestine/Israel, working together despite physical borders and thereby intensifying their impact.
• To develop civilian methods of conflict management and observation of human rights and thus prevent violence and attacks on the civilian population.
• To raise awareness among politicians, local people and western society about the extent of the conflicts and to recommend possible courses of action.
  
  

The “Open Forum” is an amalgamation of 11 civilian organisations. They are based in Israel or in the occupied territories and are active in very different areas. They are seeking to effect social change and encourage conflict resolution by concentrating their efforts on young people and women, and by defending human rights and the interests of the refugee communities.

In pursuing this agenda HEKS is adopting a two-pronged approach, offering direct support for the initiatives of the partner organisations as well as for the joint activities that make up the programme of each individual organisation. They all want to reach more people in their area and extend their influence by comparing notes, working together and entering into negotiations.

HEKS is also responsible for Switzerland’s involvement in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). Swiss human rights observers do three-month voluntary placements together with participants from other countries. The presence of the human rights observers protects the population as well as local communities and organisations from violent attacks and encourages them in their commitment to a fair and just peace.