Democracy and Workers' Rights Center [Association] in Palestine (DWRC)
Profile
Country/Territory | Palestinian Authority |
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Website | http://www.dwrc.org/ |
Founded | 1993 |
In their own words | “A Palestinian social movement capable of influencing policies and achieving change with a democratic trade union movement at its core” |
Funding
- Does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.
- 2020 donors include Denmark, NGO Development Center (NDC), Misereor, and Olof Palme International Center (Sweden).
- DWRC participates in “Partnership for democratic development in Palestine,” a project (2016-2019) of Norwegian People’s Aid(NPA). The project, funded by Norway (NOK 50.8 million), is implemented along with 10 other partners.
- In 2018, DWRC received DKK 925,000 from Denmark.
- In 2015-2018, DWRC, along with the Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) and Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti (COSPE), received €583,986 from the European Union (EIDHR) for “Enhancing Rights and Freedoms of Palestinian Workers.”
- DWRC received $465,000 in core funding for 2014-17 from the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (a joint funding mechanism of Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands that closed in 2017).
Activities
- DWRC rhetoric includes accusing the “Israeli occupation” of “apartheid” and “collective punishment.”
- In January 2020, Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), of which DWRC is a member, vehemently opposed a new clause in European Union grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists. PNGO claimed that Palestinian terrorist organizations are “political parties.”
- In July 2014, DWRC described “Apartheid Israel” as a place where “a wave of open racism and intolerance has pervaded the society.”
BDS
- As a member of PNGO, DWRC has been a signatory on numerous statements supporting BDS campaigns.
- In July 2020, DWRC was a signatory on a statement calling for “Immediate targeted sanctions to stop Israel’s annexation and apartheid.” The statement further called for “A ban on arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspension of trade and cooperation agreements with Israel,” and “Investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid.”
- In 2018-2019, PNGO lobbied in support of the discriminatory UN blacklist of businesses supposedly operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel.
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- In March 2020, PNGO was a signatory on a letter to OHCHR High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet praising the High Commissioner for publishing the list and stating that it “look[s] forward to continuing to work with the OHCHR, with a view toward ending corporate impunity for profiting from grave breaches of international law.”
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- In October 2015, at the height of a wave of terror attacks against Israelis, DWRC posted a statement of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) on Facebook and Twitter, calling on Palestinians to boycott Israel as a show of “solidarity” with the “current phase… [of] Palestinian popular resistance” and praising the “increased [] isolation of Israel and [] its regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid and occupation.”
- During the 2014 Gaza conflict, DWRC posted a call to join BDS campaigns as a way to “stop this madness” committed by the “Israeli occupation army.”
- In 2010, the Jerusalem Post reported that DWRC participated in a pro-BDS event hosted by the Irish trade-union.
- In 2008 DWRC was a signatory to a Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) petition against the EU-Israel upgrade and calling for the suspension of the EU Association Agreement.
- Signatory to the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS” that calls for an end to Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands.”
Partners
Member of:
- The Palestinian Network of NGOs (PNGO)
- The International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net)
- The Global Network, which is part of Solidar
- Workers’ Rights Defense, Advocacy and Education Network (formerly International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations in the Arab Countries [IFWEA/AC])
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