Newsletter - September 2016
Update: The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has not provided updated detention figures in accordance with a Freedom of Information (FOI) application since April 2016. According to the IPS the delay is due to staffing issues and the absence of a dedicated FOI officer. The IPS advises that it is hopeful that this issue will be resolved.
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Detention figures – According to the IPS, as of 30 April 2016, there were 6,295 Palestinians held as "security prisoners" in Israeli detention facilities, including 414 children. In the case of children there was a 7 per cent decrease compared with the previous month but an annual increase of 93 per cent compared with 2015. These figures include 13 children held in administrative detention. According to the IPS, on average 84 per cent of detainees continue to be held in Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. A further 1,586 Palestinians were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 14 children.
More statistics
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Comparative graph - issues of concern - As part of MCW's monitoring programme, 13 issues of concern relating to the treatment of children in detention are tracked by reference to recent evidence. Based on 71 testimonies collected by MCW so far in 2016, the evidence indicates that: 49% of children report being arrested at night; 89% of children report being hand tied and 85% blindfolded; 77% report being transferred to interrogation on the metal floor of a military vehicle; 58% report experiencing some form of physical abuse during arrest, transfer and/or interrogation; and only 13% report being informed of their right to silence.
Comparative graph
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Pilot scheme to limit night arrests - update - Following widespread criticism of the use of night raids to arrest children in the West Bank, the military authorities announced in February 2014, the introduction of a pilot programme to issue written summonses in lieu of night arrests. The programme commenced operation in the Nablus and Hebron districts but was temporarily suspended in or about September 2014 due to “increased violence”. At the time of the suspension the military authorities stated that they did not keep any statistics during the initial operation of the programme making any official assessment impossible.
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UK parliamentary question - In September, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs was asked when he expects the follow-up report to Children in Military Custody, a report written by a delegation of British lawyers on the treatment of Palestinian children under Israeli military law, published in June 2012, to be published. The Under Secretary of State responded that this is a matter for the lawyers but: "the UK Government continues to push for the full implementation of changes recommended in the 2012 report and will work with the Israeli authorities to identify ways to improve these practices."
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A soldier's video testimony: First time in the Territories - In this video a former soldier provides a testimony to
Breaking the Silence about how Palestinians are arrested at night before being taken to a military base, tied and blindfolded, where they wait for hours, sometimes a whole day, before being interrogated:- "I was a young soldier. It was my first time in the Territories ... I was shocked ... seeing someone on the ground, blindfolded, handcuffed, totally helpless in the company's area. We just passed by ... I remember that, as an officer, one of the things that bothered me was that I slowly became indifferent."
Video testimony
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A child's testimony - On 25 May 2016, a 14-year-old boy reports being detained by Israeli soldiers at 3:15 a.m. One week earlier soldiers had delivered a summons at 2:00 a.m., which the family reports they complied with. He reports being painfully hand tied and blindfolded before being assaulted and verbally abused in the back of a military vehicle. He reports being put in a shipping container before being interrogated at 7:00 a.m. without being informed of his legal rights. He reports signing a document written in Hebrew without understanding its contents. He was released on NIS 1,500 bail on 27 June 2016 having spent nearly one month in prison.
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