Organization seeks review of Israeli prison child abuse claims

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Reports of child abuse have surfaced. [Source: Tehran Times].
Reports of child abuse have surfaced. (Source: Tehran Times).
Israel – The Geneva-based, non-governmental organization, Defense for Children International (DCI), has asked the United Nations to investigate reports that Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons from January 2009 to April 2010 were subjected to sexual abuse in an effort to gain their confessions.

DCI has collected more than one hundred sworn affidavits from Palestinian children claiming mistreatment. Fourteen of the statements reveal sexual assault and abuse by the soldiers. The DCI said that such practices violate international law and children’s rights.

Nearly every minor was handcuffed for long periods of time, according to the one hundred statements taken by DCI. Many were blindfolded for extended periods of time. Boys as young as thirteen said they were threatened with rape if they did not confess.

Al Jazeera was able to interview some of the children, who confirmed the mistreatment by their captors. One child said he was bound, blindfolded, and placed on the floor of the vehicle taking him to prison. Many said that they were often held for hours without food or drink. They were also told that the soldier who beat them was the same one to whom they had to confess.

Parents do not typically want to come forward to report the abuse, distrustful of the system that is abusing their children.

Israel has rejected DCI’s claims and has said that such practices are consistent with international law, adding that any claims related to abuse or violence should be formally raised at trial or in a complaint.

Different laws apply to Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza. All Palestinians, including minors and adults, are tried in military courts. Further, Palestinian children are not permitted to see their lawyers until they are in court.

Each year, about seven hundred Palestinian minors aged twelve to eighteen are arrested in Israel. There are approximately 340 Palestinian children in Israeli jails. Sixty percent of them have been charged with throwing stones. There is no appeals process for decisions by Israeli military courts.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel faces child-abuse claims – 31 May 2010

Tehran Times – Israel faces child abuse claims – 31 May 2010

Bruneinews.net – Child sex abuse alleged in Israeli juvenile prisons – 30 May 2010

Palestine Note – Rights group: Israeli officers sexually assaulted children – 30 May 2010

Haaretz.com – Over 100 Palestinian minors reported abuse in IDF, police custody in 2009 – 28 May 2010

Chavez Under Pressure to Drop Charges Against Arbitrarily Detained Judge

By Ricky Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – The arbitrary detention of Venezuelan Judge, Maria Lourdes Afiuni, is a blow to judicial independence and the rule of both Venezuelan and International Law, says the Special Rapporteur on the Independence for Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Carina Knaul de Albuquerque e Silva.

In December of 2009, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions declared the pre-trial detention of Venezuelan banker, Eligio Cedeño, to be arbitrary. Pursuant to the Working Group’s findings, Judge Afiuni conditionally released him. Minutes after issuing her decision, she was arrested for upholding Venezuelan and International Law.

Chavez’s government is seeking corruption charges against the Judge even though prosecutors explicitly stated that Afiuni had not received any payment or promise of payment. Afiuni remains in pre-trial detention.

The Venezuelan military police have also detained Cedeño’s defense lawyer and have held him under arrest without charges at intelligence headquarters.

“Afiuni’s decision to release Cedeño was expressly authorized in Article 264 of Venezuela’s Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires control judges to review periodically all pretrial preventative measures and grants judges complete discretion to modify pretrial detention for less stringent measures,” reports London-based attorney, Robert Amsterdam.

“Throwing a judge in prison for doing her job and issuing a decision that upholds fundamental rights protected under both Venezuelan and International Law is not something you’d expect in a functioning democracy,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas Director at Human Rights Watch. “Once again the Chavez Government has demonstrated its fundamental disregard for the principle of judicial independence,” he added.

Vivanco noted that Afiuni’s detention, taken together with the dramatic erosion of judicial independence in Venezuela under Chavez, makes it highly likely that she will receive an unfair trial

Human Rights Watch reports that on January 11th, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights ruled that Afiuni was entitled to protective measures and ordered Venezuela to be proactive in protecting Afiuni’s life and physical integrity and to transfer her to a safe place. The Venezuelan Government has yet to comply with the order.

In 2004, President Chavez and his supporters executed a political takeover of the Supreme Court. Since then, the Court has not been able to be a check on Executive power as it has since been comprised of government supporters. The result has been that the Court has failed to uphold fundamental rights of the Venezuelan constitution in cases involving government efforts to limit freedom of expression and association – fundamental rights.

For more information, please see:

HRW – Venezuela: Human Rights Watch Oral Statement Before the Human Rights Council – 03 June 2010

HRW – Venezuela: Stop Attacks on Judicial Independence – 08 April 2010

Robert Amsterdam – Judge Maria Afiuni’s Decision Cited UN Working Group Opinion – 15 December 2009

Australia Plans to Transfer 750 Asylum Seekers to Mainland

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SYDNEY, Australia – The Australian government plans to transfer all asylum seekers currently located in Christmas Island to a mainland detention center. These refugees – about 600 Afghans and 150 Sri Lankans – have arrived by boat since the suspension took effect in April of this year.

Australia’s immigration minister Chris Evans says the government is looking for mainland sites to accommodate the asylum seekers.

“It is our intention to take that cohort probably in the first instance to Curtin where we’re increasing our capacity, but we’ll obviously make judgments based on individuals,” he said.

Senator Evans says he hopes the improving situation in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – where most of refugees come from – will soon allow the Australian government to send some of the asylum seekers back.

“The experience we’ve had since the suspension has confirmed what we were seeing in the few months before that – that we’re getting a much higher refusal rate,” he said.

“Many of the people who are coming to this country are no longer found to be refugees and we’re able to – at the end of their processes – potentially return them.”

For more information, please see:


Radio New Zealand – Asylum seekers being moved to mainland – 3 June 2010
Radio Australia – 750 asylum seekers head to Australian mainland centres – 3 June 2010
ABC News – 750 asylum seekers heading for mainland centres – 3 June 2010