"UK ready to take on Israel over fate of children clapped in irons," read the headline in a leading UK newspaper the morning after the latest report on the treatment of Palestinian children held in military detention was released in London in June. The Foreign Office-funded report -- Children in Military Custody -- was written by a delegation of UK lawyers that included a former Attorney General and a judge of the Court of Appeal, following their visit to Israel and the West Bank last September.
The report, the findings of which have been described as "shocking" and "damning," describes how children as young as 12 years are prosecuted in military courts after being arrested by soldiers in terrifying night-time raids. The report refers to evidence collected by Israeli and Palestinian lawyers, as well as UN agencies, which describes an abusive system in which children are threatened and physically coerced into signing confessions, some of which are written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand. Following their conviction in a military court, most of the children are shipped off to prisons in Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits their transfer out of the West Bank. Further, the report found that the military's treatment of Palestinian children also violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child in a number of key respects.
As shocking as these findings may be, reports of abuse within Israel's military detention system are not new. In April 2012, Defence for Children International (DCI) released a report following a review of over 300 sworn testimonies collected from children imprisoned over the past four years. The report -- Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted -- found that children were tied, often painfully so and for lengthy periods, in 95 percent of cases; blindfolded in 90 percent of cases; subjected to physical violence in 75 percent of cases; transferred on the floor of military vehicles in 32 percent of cases; and imprisoned inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, in 63 percent of cases. The report concluded that there was a systematic pattern of ill-treatment of children within the system.
Similarly in 2011, the Israeli organization B'Tselem released a report -- No Minor Matter -- which considered the cases of 800 Palestinian children prosecuted in Israeli military courts for throwing stones. As part of their research, B'Tselem attempted to determine the number of persons injured by stone throwing, but none of the government agencies contacted kept any data on the issue. B'Tselem concluded that "the rights of Palestinian minors are flagrantly violated at every stage of the proceedings conducted against them, from the initial arrest and removal from their homes, through interrogation and trial, to serving the prison sentence, and then release."
The response from the Israeli authorities to these complaints is that throwing stones is dangerous, and sometimes lethal, implying that death is commonplace. Although any loss of life is a tragedy to be avoided, evidence collected by B'Tselem indicates that in the past 11 years, four people, including one Palestinian, have been killed by stones thrown at vehicles traveling in the West Bank. No one argues that offenses should not be punished, but we should all be able to agree that children accused of the same crime must be treated with equality under the law. Why then is a child accused of throwing stones in the West Bank prosecuted in a military court just because he is Palestinian, whereas an Israeli settler child accused of the same offense is processed in a civilian juvenile justice system, with all the added protections and safeguards this implies? Most would agree this is discrimination based on racial grounds, as I believe -- something that has no place in a modern democracy.
Many now argue that the institutionalized discrimination experienced by 700 Palestinian children prosecuted in Israel's military courts each year is unsustainable and must end. A number of simple and practical measures have been recommended to reduce the level of abuse that is being reported, which include measures that already apply to Israeli children. These measures include ensuring that all children, regardless of race, are entitled to see a lawyer prior to questioning and to be informed of their legal rights. Further, just like Israeli children, Palestinian children should be accompanied by a parent when questioned, and finally, all interrogations should be audio-visually recorded. This final measure not only provides protection to the child against improper interrogation techniques, but also protects the interrogator against false allegations of wrongdoing.
Since June 1967, approximately 730,000 Palestinian men, women and children have been held in military detention. To suggest that nearly three-quarters of a million people are "terrorists," as is often implied, is both simplistic and unhelpful. Labeling an entire population as "potential terrorists" fails to acknowledge the part illegal Israeli settlement construction plays in raising tensions in the region, while leaving many frustrated that Israeli violations of international law go unchallenged. In few other situations would the international community tolerate an entire civilian population being held under military rule for 45 years, or the systematic abuse and military detention of children as young as 12. Until a bona fide attempt is made to right this institutionalized injustice, can anyone realistically expect the situation on the ground to improve?
Gerard Horton is the International Advocacy Officer and lawyer for Defence for Children International - Palestine Section.
Honesty would help even more.
Wrong in Rwanda.
Wrong in the Congo.
Wrong in "Palestine."
(2) It'd be more useful to deal with how Israel violates international law in HOW they arrest, try and jail Palestinians in general. Under international law, prisoners in occupied territories have to be jailed in local institutions, not held in the "mother country". By keeping OC Palestinian prisoners, they are kept far away from their families, visits are difficult. Just require Israel to follow International law, don't hype "child prisoners", that's just weak, a a rather transparent attempt to play the "what about the children" card.
These are criminals not innocent victims. They belong in jail. As do the parents and guardians who encouraged and allowed them to commit the crimes that resulted in their arrests.
the article states 12 years old...do you have reading issues or just doing hasbara job?
Maybe instead of tossing them into prison, they should be exposed to Israeli youths, Israeli culture, etc. Maybe OneVoice or Seeds for Peace could help come up with programming to work on diffusing the underlying hatred and anger. The same could be the punishment for settler children as well.
From paragraph 8: "in 2009 the military juvenile court was created by Military Order 1644. In the new court, judges are trained to deal with children. Whilst at the time of the delegation’s visit the court was empowered to deal with children under 16, we were informed by the military that, in practice, it heard cases of children up to the age of 18. Since our visit, by virtue of a new Military Order, 1676, which was passed on 27 September 2011, the court now officially has jurisdiction over children up to the age of 18."
Have a look
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32p38_plo-boy-scouts-in-beirut_news
Since when is the rock a ten year old can throw "deadly" to a soldier wearing riot armor or to a tank/APC?
Most would agree this is discrimination based on racial grounds?"
Most objective people would actually strongly disagree.
Fact:Israeli Arabs who commit crimes in Israel would be prosecuted in civil courts.
This fact alone completely refutes racial " grounds" allegation.
Additional Fact: Disputed Territories are administered by Military authority, bot civil authorities. Therefore, Palestinian residents of these territories are tried by courts in its administrative jurisdiction.
There have been videos linked on HP of settlers shooting unarmed Palestinians while IDF troops watched and did nothing. We can see the difference in treatment between Jews and Muslims in Jewish controlled areas of Palestine.
Your post is, as normal for you, totally biased toward Israel.
such pure hippocrisy ya spout.
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/arrests-of-palestinian-children-a-boy-in-leg-irons-is-becoming-a-big-story-in-uk.html
Read Phil Weiss.
http://www.eji.org/eji/childrenprison
http://natgeotv.com/ca/americas-hardest-prisons/videos/kids-behind-bars
Or in the UK:
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/ProjectsResearch/Childrenandyoungpeople
Or canada:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2010001/article/11147-eng.htm
I guess it could be worse though, they could be in an arab prison:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0526/Witness-Secret-Iraq-prison-for-women-and-children
http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/syrian-children-are-being-tortured-in-prison-says-un-3065001.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aayfZZBBAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0Nmyjq6oYc
But there's no controversy about what happens in arab and iranian prisons. Why should there by, they only torture and kill them there.
Israel is a occuping force and their actions are that of a thug , when considering their behavior towards these children.
Please tell your bleeding heart lawyers to maybe they should talk with the PA and Hamas to stop using their teens and pre-teen as a rock throwers and killers.... just remember the FOGLE FAMILY killed in cold blood, including a 3 mos old baby… I do not hear your or the British media moral outrage for such a brutal heartless killing.....
You can sue to your heart delight, but Israel is within its rights to defend its citizens and lock up would be terrorists no matter their age.... You play with FIRE, YOU GET BURN.
Being deaf does not give your case any more weight.
And by the way, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8338745.stm