Defence for Children International (DCI) is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) set up in 1979, during the

International Year of the Child UNESCO proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child. The proclamation was signed on January 1, 1979, by United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. A follow-up to the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the proclamation ...

, to ensure on-going, practical, systematic and concerted international and national action specially directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of children, as articulated in the

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of ch ...

(UNCRC). Nigel Cantwell was one of its founders and its current president is Khaled Quzmar of Palestine.

Defence for Children International – Palestine

Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) is an independent, local Palestinian child rights organization established in 1991 to promote the rights of children living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It also investigates and documents human rights violations against children, provides legal services to children in urgent need. In October 2021, DCIP was designated a terrorist organization by Israel, together with five other Palestinian

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s: Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. This accusation was supported by the pro-Israeli

NGO Monitor NGO Monitor is a right-wing organization based in Jerusalem that reports on international NGO (non-governmental organisation) activity from a pro-Israel perspective. The organization was founded in 2001 by Gerald M. Steinberg under the auspic ...

, who issued a report claiming DCI-P's ties with the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

(PFLP), designated a terrorist organisation by the United States,

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, Canada, and Israel. NGO Monitor alleges that PFLP members have been employed and appointed as board members at DCI-P. The designation of Defence for Children International – Palestine as a terrorist organisation was condemned by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, and the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

who called it a “frontal attack on the Palestinian human rights movement and on human rights everywhere.” In July 2022, nine EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden) issued a joint statement saying they will continue working with the six Palestinian organisations that Israel had banned because Israel had failed to prove that they should be considered terrorist groups. On 18 August 2022, Israeli forces raided the headquarters of the six organisations along with the

Union of Health Work Committees Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Union ...

(outlawed in 2020) in Ramallah and al-Bireh, removed computers and equipment and ordered their closure.

References

External links

Defence for Children International
{{Authority control Children's rights organizations Organizations established in 1979 International organisations based in Switzerland Organisations based in Geneva Organizations designated as terrorist by Israel

Defence for Children International – Palestine

See also

References

External links