Bisan Center for Research and Development

The Bisan Center for Research and Development is a civil society non-profit, non-governmental organization in Ramallah.[1] It was established in 1989 and is registered with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior.[2]

Bisan Center for Research and Development
Founded1989 (1989)
TypeNon-profit
FocusFunding cultural programmes with the aim of preserving Palestinian identity and civil society
Area served
Palestinian territories
Websitebisan.org

Bisan works to support Palestinian women through youth organizations, feminist institutions, and community-based organization in marginalized and rural areas in Palestine, including through cultural initiatives encouraging the participation of youth and women.[2] The Bisan Centre also runs a hotline on domestic violence.[1]

In 1990, with funding from Austcare, Bisan founded 22 community centers in the West Bank offering vocational training. At the time, they were also running a center for small scale enterprise and development in Nablus.[3] It also has a legislative unit that lobbies for effective civil legislation, and has historically worked with the Ministry of Health on research studies, including on domestic abuse in the West Bank and Gaza.[3]

The organization has also previously partnered with UNIFEM on hosting women's conferences,[4] including outside of Palestine, for example in Iraq, where it held a civic education workshop on behalf of UNIFEM with the Iraqi Al-Amal Association to train women in women's rights advocacy campaigning.[5]

In October 2021, Bisan was designated a terrorist organization by Israel, together with five other Palestinian non-profit, non-governmental organizations.[6] The designation was condemned by Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch,[7] 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.”[8]

In November 2021, it was revealed by Frontline Defenders, working with Amnesty International and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, that Ubai al-Aboudi, head of the Bisan Center, was among the employees of the targeted groups that were hacked with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.[9]

In February 2022, the Bisan Center launched "The Bisan Lecture Series", a planned series of discourses on subjects of cultural, scientific, and societal importance aimed at "full integration of Palestine into the global learning community".[10]

References
  1. Rehn, Elisabeth; Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson (2002). Women, War and Peace (PDF). UN FPA. p. 15. ISBN 0-912917-66-0.
  2. "About Bisan Center". bisan.org.
  3. Powers, Janet M. date2003. In support of Palestinian women (Report). p. 26.
  4. Afkhami, Mahnaz (1997). Muslim Women and Politics of Participation: Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East. Syracuse University Press. pp. 173–174. ISBN 9780815627609.
  5. Women's Solidarity Towards Active Participation in Elections (IRAQIA) (final project report) (Report). UNIFEM. 2007. p. 12.
  6. Jonathan Lis,Hagar Shezaf, 'Gantz Declares Six Palestinian NGOs Terrorist Organizations,' Haaretz 22 October 2021
  7. Human Rights Watch 'Israel/Palestine: Designation of Palestinian Rights Groups as Terrorists' 22 October 2021
  8. 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
  9. "Israeli Pegasus spyware used on 'banned Palestinian groups'". France 24. 8 November 2021.
  10. "Introducing The Bisan Lecture Series". Mondoweiss. 3 February 2022.
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