| Union of Palestinian Women's Committees Society اتحاد لجان المرأة الفلسطينية | |
| Type: | Non-profit |
| Area Served: | Palestinian territories |
| Focus: | Empowering Palestinian women to contribute in the Palestinian national struggle |
The Union of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC; ar|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]