Detention figures – According to data issued quarterly by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 31 March 2023, there were 4,747 Palestinians (West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza) held as “security prisoners” in detention facilities including 151 children (12-17 years). In the case of children there was a 1 percent increase in the number compared with the previous month and an annual increase of 11 percent compared with 2022. Ten children were held in administrative detention without charge or trial. According to the IPS, 70 percent of child detainees were transferred to prisons inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. *Note: As of 13 July 2023, the IPS has not published detention figures for April, May or June 2023. More statistics
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UN Secretary General's Report on Children in Armed Conflict (2022) - Conflicts covered by the Secretary General's annual report include Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The report notes that "the UN verified the detention of 852 Palestinian children for alleged security offences by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The UN received the testimonies of 82 children who reported ill-treatment by Israeli forces while in detention." For reasons unexplained, the Secretary General omitted to mention that between 350-700 children were unlawfully transferred from the West Bank in 2022, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. However, the Secretary General did report the verified unlawful transfer of 46 Ukrainian children. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
UK Lawyers' Report - 11th anniversary - The Foreign Office funded report – Children in Military Custody (2012) – found undisputed evidence that Israel's military detention system violates at least 6 articles under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and 2 articles under the Fourth Geneva Convention, including the unlawful transfer of children from occupied territory. Based on 1,051 testimonies, just 1 of the report's 40 recommendations has been substantially implemented in 11 years - over 97 percent of the report's recommendations remain unimplemented. Without accountability within the framework of a rules-based order, there is no reason to anticipate any substantive improvement in the treatment of Palestinian children in the foreseeable future as the occupation enters its 57th year. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
A child's testimony - On 16 May 2023, a 14-year-old minor from Husan was arrested by Israeli soldiers from home at 3:00 a.m. He reports being taken without explanation or documentation. He reports being painfully zip-tied and blindfolded, before being transferred to the settlement of Bitar Illit on the floor of a military vehicle. He reports being interrogated at 6:30 a.m. after a brief phone call with a lawyer but not being informed of his right to silence by the interrogator. During a second interrogation he reports being threatened with denial of work and entry permits. He reports being sentenced for stone throwing by a military court to 7 days in prison; a fine of NIS 3,000; and an additional suspended sentence. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
