Summary:

Each year, approximately 700 Palestinian children as young as 12 years are arrested,interrogated and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. Credible reports of ill-treatment and torture within the system are common and persistent.

www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=1778&CategoryId=1

http://www.crin.org/docs/JANUARY2011.pdf

It is estimated that since 2000 alone, around 7,000 Palestinian children have been detained and prosecuted in the system. This Report focuses on persistent and credible reports of torture and ill-treatment within a system that has now been operating for 43 years.

In the Israeli military court system, children are frequently arrested from their homes by heavily armed soldiers in the middle of the night and are painfully tied and blindfolded before being placed in the back of a military vehicle and transferred to an interrogation and detention centre. It is rare for a child, or his/her parents to be told the reason for arrest, or where the child is being taken. The arrest and transfer process is frequently accompanied by physical and verbal abuse.

Reports of torture and ill-treatment in the Israeli military court system are not new and have been well publicised for many years. What is perhaps most disturbing however, is that the pattern of torture and ill-treatment indicates that the practice is widespread, systematic and institutionalised within the system, and against which, childhood affords little or no protection.

Further Information:

• Opening remarks by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at press conference in Jerusalem 
• Israel's compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two Optional Protocol
• More on children's rights and Israel

Previous Publication (general) items

• 28/01/2011: PARTICIPACIÓN: Incidencia de niños, niñas y adolescentes como ciudadanos/as activos/as en Nicaragua
• 28/01/2011: CRIN: CRINMAIL 1210 (Arabic)
• 28/01/2011: ARMED CONFLICT: In their words – Perspectives of armed non-state actors on the protection of children from the effects of armed conflict
• 24/01/2011: CIVIL SOCIETY: Global trends on the clampdown of civil liberties
• 21/01/2011: MALI: Analyse et commentaires de la législation applicable aux enfants contrevenants, en danger ou victimes d’infractions

Organisation Contact Details:

Defence for Children International - Palestine Section
PO Box 55201
Jerusalem, Israel
Tel: +972 2 242 7530
Email: dci@dci-pal.org
Website: www.dci-pal.org

Last updated 17/02/2011 05:37:30

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.