Union of Palestinian Women's Committees

Union of Palestinian Women's Committees Society
اتحاد لجان المرأة الفلسطينية
Founded1980; 44 years ago (1980)
TypeNon-profit
FocusEmpowering Palestinian women to contribute in the Palestinian national struggle
Area served
Palestinian territories
Websiteupwc.org.ps

The Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC; Arabic: اتحاد لجان المرأة الفلسطينية) is a Palestinian non-profit organization founded in 1980 "to empower Palestinian women on all levels and to contribute in the Palestinian national struggle against the Israeli military illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories".[1]

In October 2021, UPWC was designated a terrorist organization by Israel, together with five other Palestinian non-profit, non-governmental organizations (Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defence for Children International – Palestine, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees).[2] The designation was condemned by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,[3] and the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights who called it a "frontal attack on the Palestinian human rights movement and on human rights everywhere."[4]

In July 2022, nine EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden) issued a joint statement saying they would continue working with these six Palestinian organisations that Israel had banned because Israel had failed to prove that they should be considered terrorist groups.[5]

On 18 August 2022, Israeli forces raided the headquarters of the six organisations along with the Union of Health Work Committees (outlawed in 2020) in Ramallah and al-Bireh, removed computers and equipment and ordered their closure. [6][7][8]

  1. ^ "Union of Palestinian Women Committees". UN ESCWA. 2 May 2014.
  2. ^ https://nbctf.mod.gov.il/en/Pages/211021EN.aspx
  3. ^ Human Rights Watch 'Israel/Palestine: Designation of Palestinian Rights Groups as Terrorists' 22 October 2021
  4. ^ UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights 'UN experts condemn Israel's designation of Palestinian human rights defenders as terrorist organisations' 25 October 2021
  5. ^ Hagar Shezaf: תשע מדינות באירופה: בהיעדר ראיות מישראל, נמשיך לסייע לארגונים האזרחיים בגדה / ‘Insufficient Evidence’: Nine EU Nations to Keep Ties With Palestinian NGOs Israel Blacklisted as Terrorist Groups. Haaretz, 12 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Israeli forces raid offices of several Palestinian CSOs in Ramallah". WAFA. 18 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank clashes, medics say". Reuters. 18 August 2022 – via www.reuters.com.
  8. ^ "Israel Raids Outlawed Palestinian Rights Groups' Offices in West Bank". Haaretz.