The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) was established by a small group of women in Jerusalem in 1991 as a Palestinian, independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation. Its foundation came in a context of the emergence of professional and political Palestinian women’s organizations, which had proliferated in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as a result of the increasing involvement of women’s groups in the national struggle, and which were part of the movements that led to the first Intifada in late 1987. First, the women’s groups addressed women’s needs in the context of occupation and militarised oppression of the community, realising the connections between militarised patriarchy and an increase in women’s oppression in private and public spheres.

Made up of active members of the Palestinian women’s movement, including members of grassroots organizations, professional educators, and physicians, these women sought to avoid the marginalisation that other feminist movements in struggles for national liberation had suffered, and to prevent this from happening in Palestine. As such, they set up WCLAC with the aim of working for an end to the Israeli occupation, and of contributing to the building of a democratic Palestinian society based on principles of equality and social justice between men and women.

In its early days, WCLAC focused primarily on providing legal and social services to Palestinian women victims of violence and abuse. Yet WCLAC staff and management recognised that in order to effect real changes in the status of Palestinian women, a more holistic approach was necessary and that providing treatment services – while essential - was not sufficient.

Today, working from its offices in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Hebron, WCLAC has expanded its strategy to include advocacy, lobbying, capacity-building work and research projects, all carried out within the framework of a clear Palestinian women’s agenda based on international human rights standards. Indeed, part of our strategic objectives is to deal with women’s issues in the context of prolonged Israeli occupation, basing our efforts on the existing International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, as well as UN Security Council resolution 1325. WCLAC’s five units work together to implement and follow-up the organisation’s programs and projects: the Service Unit, the Lobbying and Advocacy Unit, the Capacity-Building Unit, the Research and Documentation Unit and the Administrative and Finance Unit.

By forging a feminist vision aimed at achieving equality and social justice, WCLAC has been able to make important achievements at the local, regional and national levels in the area of human rights and, in particular, Palestinian women's rights, in the context of an ever-changing and volatile political situation.

These achievements have been recognized both nationally and internationally. In 1998 for example, WCLAC was awarded the Human Rights Award of the French Republic for its work on the “Model Parliament” and initiative to influence Palestinian decision makers and legislature to adopt laws, legislation and policies to ensure equality and the rights of Palestinian women. WCLAC’s General Director, Maha Abu-Dayyeh Shamas, was also presented with the ‘Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year Award’ in 2002. In 2005, the Welfare Association, a Palestinian development foundation, awarded WCLAC the ‘2005 NGO Excellence in Achievement Award’, and the organisation was granted special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

But most importantly, WCLAC has been able to, and continues to make a critical difference in the lives of those Palestinian women and girls caught up in a vicious circle of violence and fear, and who have nowhere else to turn for protection.