Geneva Advocacy Mission | HRC 63
28 September – 1 October 2026, Geneva
PWWSD and PNGO representation
Ms. Amal Khreishe
General Director of PWWSD and representative of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)
Ms. Shahd Khader
Fundraising and Development Officer, PWWSD
From 28 September to 1 October 2026, a delegation representing PWWSD and the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) carried documented realities from the occupied Palestinian territory to the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. Through a joint side event, a statement before the Council, meetings with three UN mechanisms and the Permanent Mission of the State of Palestine, and closed-door exchanges with state missions, the delegation pressed one consistent message: Palestinian women are rights-holders, witnesses and actors in accountability, not a secondary category of victims.
Read the report and watch the film
PWWSD report launched at HRC 63
Gendered Impacts of Israel's Settlement Regime in the West Bank: Settler Violence, Movement Restrictions, Socioeconomic Harm and Restrictions on Women's Civic Space
Read the report (PDF)
Film
“The land is taken... Women pay the price”
Watch the film
In this story
Joint side event with MIFTAH and Al Mezan
MIFTAH convened the side event Women's Rights Under Attack: Health, Safety and Accountability in Gaza and the West Bank on 28 September 2026, in partnership with PWWSD and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. More than 40 participants joined a dedicated space within HRC 63 to examine how violations affect Palestinian women's health, safety and access to rights.
PWWSD presented findings from its report Gendered Impacts of Israel's Settlement Regime in the West Bank: Settler Violence, Movement Restrictions, Socioeconomic Harm and Restrictions on Women's Civic Space. The intervention showed that women's health cannot be separated from the structures governing daily life under occupation. Settlement expansion, settler violence, checkpoints, road closures and permit restrictions disrupt access to hospitals, specialised care, reproductive health services and psychosocial support, while increasing the time, cost and risk involved in seeking care.
The discussion connected the situation in Gaza with the gendered impacts of the settlement regime in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It also stressed the international legal context, the importance of credible documentation, and the urgent need to protect and promote Palestinian women's rights.
Item 7 General Debate, with CIVICUS
During the Item 7 General Debate on 29 September, PWWSD delivered a 90-second statement with CIVICUS on implementation of HRC Resolution 31/36 and the UN database of business enterprises involved in settlement-related activities. The intervention linked corporate accountability with the gendered impacts of surveillance and the repression of women-led civil society.
The statement as delivered:
Mr. President,
CIVICUS and the Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development remain gravely concerned by settlement expansion and shrinking civic space in the OPT.
OHCHR's 2026 update added 61 companies, while 255 businesses still remain to be assessed. And major cloud and AI providers remain absent from the database.
Project Nimbus is Google and Amazon's cloud contract with Israel. Israeli procurement documents list the Settlement Division among entities required to use Nimbus cloud services. This relationship must be assessed under paragraph 96.
The human-rights impacts of digital surveillance are already documented. Amnesty International documented Red Wolf facial recognition at Hebron checkpoints scanning Palestinians and collecting biometric data without consent. Yet the companies behind such systems are not always publicly identified.
PWWSD also documents surveillance reaching women's intimate spaces and women human-rights defenders facing surveillance and prosecution. This affects all Palestinians, but its impact is not gender-neutral: surveillance adds another layer of repression on women, and paralyses the work of women-led civil society.
We call on this Council, all member states and OHCHR to ensure completion of the outstanding assessments and further examine cloud and AI services. Where companies meet the criteria, States should pursue accountability, including lawful targeted sanctions; home States must also hold companies under their jurisdiction accountable.
Accountability mechanisms cannot lag behind technologies that sustain settlement-related control.
Thank you.
Why it matters. The intervention broadened the implementation discussion beyond conventional settlement industries and called for scrutiny of cloud, AI and surveillance services where they may sustain settlement-related control. It also ensured that the effects on women human rights defenders and women-led organisations were treated as central accountability concerns.
Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, Commission of Inquiry, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
Across the mission, the delegation moved evidence concerning Palestinian women from documentation into accountability processes through three UN mechanisms.
PWWSD met representatives of the Working Group and provided information on the forms of discrimination and violence affecting Palestinian women under occupation. The delegation stressed that women detainees must not be excluded from international documentation efforts and discussed practical pathways for receiving additional evidence and testimony. Representatives indicated that a future call for submissions would create an opportunity for further documentation, and that efforts would be made to reach women detainees and other women whose experiences are difficult to access safely.
The meeting also addressed the Working Group's forthcoming attention to the intersection of gender, climate and the environment. PWWSD stressed that environmental harm, land seizure, settlement expansion, water restrictions and forced displacement are not gender-neutral: they affect women's health, livelihoods, care responsibilities, food security and ability to remain on their land.
PWWSD joined Palestinian women's rights and human rights organisations in a meeting with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. The delegation provided information on violations in both the West Bank and Gaza and emphasised the need to examine their gendered consequences, including killing, displacement, detention, torture, sexual violence, destruction of services, economic harm and the use of starvation against detainees. PWWSD called for women's testimonies and documentation to be incorporated systematically into investigative and accountability processes.
PWWSD presented five priority issues that require sustained attention by the mandate and other international mechanisms:
Across the discussion, PWWSD stressed that documentation must be survivor-centred, confidential and connected to remedies. International mechanisms should create accessible channels for women's organisations to submit evidence, reach women in detention and consult women directly when defining investigative priorities and recommendations.
Side events with EuroMed Rights, Al-Haq, Al Mezan, PCHR, DCI, SHAMS and WCLAC, and the Permanent Mission of the State of Palestine
PWWSD attended side events organised by Palestinian and international human rights organisations and used each one to add a gender-sensitive analysis of how violations affect women and girls differently. The delegation also met the Permanent Mission of the State of Palestine to strengthen coordination with civil society.
PWWSD attended the side event organised by EuroMed Rights, Al Mezan and PCHR and co-sponsored by Al-Haq. The discussion addressed violations in Gaza and the West Bank, including settlement expansion, displacement and attacks on civilians, and called for accountability and implementation of international obligations. PWWSD connected women's experiences to this wider pattern and strengthened coordination on advocacy messages, report dissemination and international follow-up.
The DCI side event highlighted the protection of Palestinian children within the broader human rights crisis. PWWSD connected these concerns to women's rights, stressing how violence, displacement, detention and the destruction of services affect mothers, caregivers and girls, increase unpaid care responsibilities and deepen psychological harm within families. The session was an opportunity to connect child-rights documentation with feminist analysis and community-based protection.
The discussion drew attention to settler violence against Bedouin and refugee communities, violations affecting prisoners and detainees, and the use of sexual and gender-based violence and threats as tools of intimidation and displacement, including in Jerusalem and Hebron. PWWSD added recommendations on protection, documentation and accountability, stressing that these practices must be understood within the wider system of settlement expansion, forced displacement and annexation rather than as disconnected incidents.
The meeting with the Permanent Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in Geneva underscored the importance of sustained coordination with Palestinian civil society organisations, particularly in monitoring, documentation and the collection and preservation of relevant evidence. The delegation emphasised that systematic and credible documentation can strengthen international advocacy and accountability efforts and support more consistent application of international human rights and humanitarian law standards.
The meeting also acknowledged and built upon initiatives undertaken by the Mission, including the event organised jointly with the Permanent Mission of Spain on the situation of Palestinian detainees. Such initiatives help maintain international attention on detention-related concerns and facilitate informed dialogue among states, UN mechanisms and civil society.
Each side event was both a learning space and a networking opportunity. PWWSD exchanged contacts, introduced its report and mandate, and contributed recommendations to discussions with Palestinian organisations, international civil society and diplomatic actors. Through Ms. Amal Khreishe's representation of PNGO, the delegation also conveyed priorities relevant to the broader Palestinian NGO community and reinforced coordination between women's rights advocacy and wider civil society engagement.
State missions and the Geneva International Centre for Justice
Throughout the mission, the delegation met confidentially with representatives of several state missions to the Human Rights Council. In line with the agreed confidentiality, the states and individual representatives are not identified. PWWSD and partner organisations presented the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory through the framework of the Fourth Geneva Convention, international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and encouraged states to translate their legal obligations into consistent protection, prevention and accountability measures.
Alongside the formal programme, PWWSD built relationships that can carry its evidence beyond a single event. Exchanges with Turkish representatives introduced PWWSD's work and activities, the findings of its report and its advocacy priorities. The meeting with the Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) produced a genuine opportunity for partnership and for disseminating materials produced by PWWSD: GICJ will publish an article on the report PWWSD launched during its participation in the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council, supported by social-media posts that amplify its findings, recommendations and calls for action by the international community in accordance with international law.
| Engagement | Advocacy value | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| Turkish representatives | Expanded awareness of PWWSD's work and activities and its evidence on Palestinian women's rights. | Continue dialogue and share the report and advocacy brief. |
| GICJ | A channel for PWWSD's participation, findings and international-law recommendations to reach new audiences. | Coordinate publication of the article on the report and social-media posts through GICJ networks. |
| Palestinian CSOs | Reinforced collective advocacy and complementary messaging across HRC 63. | Maintain coordination on interventions, bilateral meetings and report dissemination. |
Results and follow-up
PWWSD's participation in HRC 63 combined formal advocacy, evidence-sharing and relationship-building. The delegation combined PWWSD representation with representation of PNGO, linking a feminist human rights perspective with wider Palestinian civil society priorities. Across side events, UN mechanism meetings, the General Debate and diplomatic discussions, the delegation consistently positioned Palestinian women as rights-holders, witnesses and actors in accountability processes rather than as a secondary category of victims.
| Result | Significance |
|---|---|
| Women's evidence elevated | PWWSD's report and field-based documentation informed discussions on health, detention, surveillance, reproductive rights, displacement and accountability. |
| Formal Council intervention delivered | The CIVICUS and PWWSD statement placed cloud, AI and surveillance services within the implementation debate on Resolution 31/36 and the UN database. |
| UN mechanisms engaged | Channels established or strengthened with the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, the Commission of Inquiry and the Office of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. |
| Collective Palestinian coordination reinforced | PWWSD's participation, Ms. Amal Khreishe's representation of PNGO and engagement with the Permanent Mission and Palestinian partners supported complementary messaging, evidence preservation and shared recommendations. |
| Visibility and report dissemination expanded | GICJ committed to publishing an article on the report PWWSD launched at HRC 63, supported by social-media posts that amplify its findings and calls for international action grounded in international law. |
| Diplomatic dialogue advanced | Confidential meetings with state missions created opportunities to press for enforcement of international legal obligations and accountability measures. |
Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development
PWWSD is a Palestinian feminist human rights organisation founded in 1981, working for women's rights, political participation and economic empowerment, towards a free democratic society.
www.pwwsd.org | pwwsd@pwwsd.org
45 years of struggle and giving