Newsletter - January 2015
Detention figures – According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 31 December 2014, there were 5,528 Palestinians (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza) held as "security prisoners" in Israeli detention facilities including 151 children
. In the case of children this represents decrease of 3 per centcompared with the previous month and an annual decrease of 6 per cent compared with 2013. According to the IPS, 47 per cent of Palestinian children and 90 per cent of adults continue to be detained in facilities inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. A further 1,800 Palestinians were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 34 children. Criminal offences include entering Israel without a permit, most frequently in pursuit of work. More statistics
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Testimony - On 3 December 2014, a 13-year-old boy from Tuqu’, in the West Bank, is arrested by Israeli soldiers at 1.30 a.m. and accused of throwing stones. “I was asleep when my father woke me and told me that Israeli soldiers had come to arrest me. It was 1.30 a.m. I got up and found the soldiers were inside our house. One of the soldiers told me to get dressed because they were going to arrest me. I heard the soldiers tell my father I was accused of throwing stones and that they were going to question me for a few hours at Etzion police station and then return me. They gave my father a document and then took me on foot towards the centre of the village where the military jeeps were waiting. As I was being led to the jeeps a soldier swore at me and called my mother a whore. I was then blindfolded and tied.”
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Do official Israeli Prison Service figures present the full picture? - Each month the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) releases
data on the number of Palestinian children detained in its facilities. These figures are based on a single head-count conducted at the end of each month and only provide a snapshot of the number of children being held on a single day. Accordingly, a child who enters the system the day after the monthly head-count and is released before the next head-count will not be included in the IPS data. The data also does not show how many children were detained by the military but released without ever entering an IPS facility. The shortcomings in the available data can be readily observed by reference to cases involving children in the 12 to 13 age category.
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Pilot programme to end night arrests suspended - In February 2014, Israel’s military authorities announced the introduction of a pilot programme to issue written summonses in lieu of arresting children in the West Bank at night. This announcement followed concerns raised in the UK, The Netherlands, Australia and by UNICEF about the devastating effect of repeated night-time incursions into Palestinian communities by the Israeli military. On 15 January 2015, the Dutch Foreign Minister, Bert Koenders, provided the Dutch Parliament with an update on progress made in implementing the pilot programme. According to the Foreign Minister’s statement, much of the information provided to Parliament was obtained during meetings with Israel’s chief military prosecutor in the West Bank.
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Dutch Foreign Minister issues statement on child detention - On 15 January 2015, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs provided a written update to Parliament on the situation facing children prosecuted in Israeli military courts in the West Bank. Concern regarding this issue has increased significantly since UNICEF published a report which concluded that “the ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized.” The Minister’s update to Parliament included information on the following issues: First, a pilot scheme to introduce summonses in lieu of night arrests; and secondly, the use of social welfare reports in the military courts relating to detention on remand.
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ICC Prosecutor opens preliminary examination – On 16 January 2015, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, opened a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine. The Prosecutor's decision follows the Government of Palestine's accession to the Rome Statute on 2 January 2015 and its declaration of 1 January 2015, lodged under article 12(3) of the Rome Statute – the Court's founding treaty – accepting the jurisdiction of the ICC over alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014. A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed.
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Testimonies (minors) Testimonies (soldiers) Documentary: Stone Cold Justice