By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) published a 22-page report last Wednesday claiming that the ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli detention centers “appears to be widespread and systematic.”

 

In its report, entitled “Children in Israeli Military Detention,” UNICEF estimates that about 700 children within the West Bank aged between twelve and seventeen were arrested by Israeli forces each year.  UNICEF says that this is a rate equivalent to “an average of two children each day.”  Figures provided for the month of January reveal that 233 children are currently in custody, and 31 of those children are below the age of sixteen.  However, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Prison Service said that currently, 307 Palestinian minors are in Israeli custody, 108 of them are serving a prison sentence.  The spokeswoman said that most of those children are between sixteen and eighteen, while the rest are under sixteen.

The report also stated that Israel is the only country in the world where children are systematically tried in military courts, deeming the practices as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment.”   “Israel is the only place in the world where automatically, a child when he is under arrest, is put before a military tribunal,” said Jean-Nicholas Beuze, UNICEF’s regional advisor on child protection. “It does exist in other countries (but only) as an exception.”

The report states that the ill-treatment often begins with an arrest of the child, usually occurring in the middle of the night, then it continues through the prosecution and sentencing periods.  The report provides examples of abuse, such as “the practice of blindfolding children and tying their hands with plastic ties, physical and verbal abuse during transfer to an interrogation site, including the use of painful restraints.”  Children were rarely informed of their rights during questioning.

During questioning, the report states that minors are subjected to “physical violence and threats, are coerced into confessions, and do not have immediate access to a lawyer or family during questioning.”  UNICEF also pointed out that some cases existed where children suffered through prolonged exposure to the elements, and were not provided with an adequate amount of food, water, and did not had access to a toilet.

During the sentencing phase, children arrive to court shackled, are denied bail and imposition of custodial sentences, and are transferred outside of the occupied Palestinian territory to serve their sentences inside Israel.

UNICEF based its findings on more than 400 cases documented since 2009, legal papers and reports composed by both governmental and non-governmental groups, and through interviews with Palestinian minors, and Israeli and Palestinian officials and lawyers.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that ministry officials along with the Israeli military cooperated with UNICEF.   Palmor said that Israel wants to improve its treatment of Palestinian minors held in custody. “Israel will study the conclusions and will work to implement them through ongoing cooperation with UNICEF, whose work we value and respect,” he said.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Israeli Ill-Treatment of Palestinian Minors ‘Widespread, Systematic:’ UNICEF — 6 March 2013

Al Jazeera — Israel Accused of Abusing Detained Children — 6 March 2013

The Daily Star — Israel Ill-Treatment of Palestinian Minors ‘Systematic’: UN — 6 March 2013

The Jewish Press — UNICEF: Israel Treatment of Arab Minors in Custody Cruel and Inhuman — 6 March 2013