It is a non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization that was established in 1989 by a group of lawyers, doctors, and clergymen, and its headquarters is in the city of Jerusalem. The city of Ramallah as a temporary headquarters to enable the families of the prisoners to reach it.
The Foundation has been active in the field of human rights and Palestinian and Arab detainees, following up on their cases in all its merits, listening to their problems and demands within families, and suffering from harsh practices by the Prisons Authority’s administration. Some of them sometimes even reached the point of destroying the institution’s headquarters during the second intifada (the Al-Aqsa Intifada), but the institution with its volunteer staff in most cases continued to give and provide its services to the prisoners.
The Foundation is trying to find an Arab and Islamic depth for it to help it financially and morally and to coordinate with them to expose the practices of the occupation and to enhance the steadfastness and steadfastness of the prisoners.
The Foundation rejects any conditional funding by some Western countries that aims to empty the cases of our prisoners of national and humanitarian content. Often, such conditional funding indirectly serves the Israeli occupation authorities and covers in various ways the crimes committed against our prisoners and our steadfast Palestinian people.
In order for the Mandela Foundation to ensure adequate protection of the rights of detainees and not to subject any of them to torture or inhumane treatment, or to take penalties against them, since the beginning of its work, it has been taking responsibility by following up on the conditions of Palestinian and Arab detainees in the occupation prisons in terms of legal, humanitarian, living and health conditions for prisoners, using the following methods :-
1- Communicating with prisoners in all prisons and detention centers through extensive visits to the legal staff working in the institution.
2- Monitoring and documenting all violations and cases of torture committed against prisoners, including cases of martyrdom.
3- Exposing all practices of the occupation through statements, conferences and radios through specialists working in the institution
4- Receiving the families of prisoners and detainees and answering their inquiries
5- Submitting protests and appeals to the competent authorities to take the necessary legal measures.
6- Coordinating with human rights organizations, whether local or international, and informing them of the reality of the prisoners’ situation and their suffering
7- The institution adopts some cases against which human rights are violated, and it files lawsuits with the judicial authorities, and demands the formation of investigation committees in each case.
8- The institution admits specialized doctors to prisons after obtaining permissions to examine and treat critical illness cases.
9- The Mandela Foundation has been organizing human rights training courses for law enforcement personnel since the beginning of 1994.
10-Following up the affairs of detainees and detainees inside the prisons of the Palestinian National Authority by visiting Mandela’s lawyers and submitting their requests and grievances to the concerned authorities, and resorting to the judiciary if necessary, especially in cases of torture, when found, and any human rights violation.
11- The Mandela Foundation established and hosted the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture in 1998, which works on psychological rehabilitation for torture victims after their release.
The Mandela Foundation is a Palestinian national institution par excellence and does not work for any party. Rather, it is preoccupied with defending human rights, standing by the Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli prisons, and providing them with adequate legal and humanitarian support.