The Women’s Affairs Technical Committee - Palestine

The Women’s Affairs Technical Committee was founded in Jerusalem in 1992 as one of the technical teams formed to support the peace negotiations. In addition, it was intended to be part of the organization and infrastructure building of a future Palestinian state, to integrate gender into all preparatory work in support of the peace process, and to build state institutions in a manner that would fulfill the Declaration of Independence (1988) which affirms the principle of equality among Palestinians regardless of sex, religion or race. The Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) was formed at that stage by unifying the efforts of various active women’s organizations that supported the peace process, among them the Union of Social Work Committees, Women’s Action Union, the Union of Working Women’s Committees, and other centers and women professionals. The intention was to increase the representation of women in the various technical and negotiating teams and to ensure the integration of gender into policies and plans being prepared by these teams. WATC succeeded in widening the representation of women in the negotiating teams (such as the environment, education, and information teams), and it worked for the inclusion of the rights of women in the draft laws being prepared. WATC also worked to draft and revise laws on the basis of the principles of the Declaration Convention issued in 1988. In addition, WATC contributed to developing the women's agenda in harmony with political developments and participated in developing the principles for the Declaration of Palestinian Women Rights, which was issued in 1994 by the General Union of the Palestinian Woman.

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Contributor: Anuradha Bhattacharjee
Published Date: May 7, 2008