Detention figures – According to the IPS, as of 30 August 2016, there were 5,988 Palestinians held as "security prisoners" in Israeli detention facilities, including 319 children. In the case of children there was a 7% decrease compared with the previous month but an annual increase of 82% compared with 2015. These figures include 10 children held without charge or trial in administrative detention. According to the IPS, 50% of child prisoners and 85% of adults continue to be transferred and detained inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. A further 1,808 Palestinians were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 31 children. More statistics
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US State Department responds to unlawful transfer query - On 2 December 2015, MCW
wrote to the US Consul General in Jerusalem raising concerns about the unlawful transfer and detention of Palestinian children outside the West Bank in violation of the Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. On 28 November 2016, the Consul General responded and without specifically referring to the Fourth Geneva Convention, Mr. Blome stated that: "The U.S. administration follows this issue closely and has consistently advocated policies to make the military detention system more humane and efficient, especially as it relates to minors."
Consul General's letter
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Latest data on ill-treatment - 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 79 testimonies collected by MCW so far in 2016, the evidence indicates that: 51% of children report being
arrested at night; 90% of children report being
hand tied and 84%
blindfolded; 76% report being transferred to interrogation on the
metal floor of a military vehicle; 58% report experiencing some form of
physical abuse; 91% are denied access to a
lawyer prior to interrogation and only 13% are informed of their legal
right to silence under military law.
Comparative Graph-Issues of Concern
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A soldier's video testimony: Equal treatment - In this video a former soldier from a paratroop special forces unit provides a testimony to
Breaking the Silence about making arrests in the West Bank. According to the soldier in approximately 80% of cases they would not find the person they intended to arrest and so would "take someone else, a relative, someone with a similar name". According to the soldier, no matter who the detainee was, everyone was treated the same: "Hands tightly tied behind their backs, as tight as possible. We, of course, sat on seats, he sat on the floor between us ... and he's sitting in the car, getting smacked, small kicks. Each on of us, in turn, would give him a knee kick."
Video testimony
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A child's testimony - On 26 July 2016, a 9-year-old boy was detained without explanation by Israeli soldiers near the Wall. He reports being held for 10 hours. Under Israeli military law and standard operating procedures children below the age of 12 must not be detained. " I was playing with my friends in an area near the Wall at around 4:00 p.m. when an Israeli patrol suddenly appeared. Two soldiers opened a gate in the Wall and started to chase us. We were scared and started to run but the soldiers ran faster and managed to catch up with us. They also fired stun grenades in our direction. When they caught one of my friends I stopped running and they caught me. They did not tell me why they were detaining me."
Testimony
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Child detention raised in Australian Parliament - In November, 49 members (20%) of Australia's Federal Parliament raised concerns about the ill-treatment of children in Israeli military detention. In August 2012, Australia's Foreign Minister, Ms. Julie Bishop raised similar concerns with Israel's Foreign Minister following the airing of the ABC Four Corners documentary -
Stone Cold Justice. In November 2016, Ms. Bishop again
stated that the Government had raised concerns with Israeli officials and that Australian Embassy staff in Tel Aviv "continue to monitor the progress of reforms". However, as far as MCW is aware, no Australian diplomat has attended a hearing of a minor in the military courts and under the Abbott Government a claim of
legal professional privilege was made when a question about the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territories was raised in the Senate in 2014 - the same Convention that provides safeguards to children in military detention.
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African exodus from the ICC must be stopped, says Kofi Annan - Crimes will go unpunished if states withdraw from international criminal court, says ex-UN secretary general. The apparent
African exodus from the international criminal court must be stopped or the most heinous crimes will be allowed to go unpunished, Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general and one of the ICC’s chief architects, has warned. Burundi,
Gambia and
South Africa said this year they would no longer recognise the court’s jurisdiction and announced their intention to quit. They claim the ICC disproportionately targets African leaders. Nine of the 10 cases taken by the court have involved former African rulers. Annan’s intervention is designed to influence the annual meeting of the Assembly of States Parties, whose members are signatories to the ICC.
Read more
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