Newsletter - June 2022
Detention figures – According to data issued quarterly by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 30 June 2022, there were 4,402 Palestinians (West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza) held as “security prisoners” in detention facilities including 137 children (12-17 years). In the case of children there was an 7% decrease in the number compared with the previous month and an annual decrease of 10% compared with 2021. Five children were held in administrative detention. According to the IPS, 67% 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. More statistics
__________________________________________________________________________________
UK lawyers' report - 10th anniversary - This month marks 10 years since a delegation of UK lawyers reviewed the treatment of Palestinian children under Israeli military law and published their findings and recommendations. The Foreign Office funded report –
Children in Military Custody – found undisputed evidence that the 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. The report concluded by making 40 recommendations. MCW has reviewed progress made in implementing the report’s 40 recommendations and concludes that in 10 years, one recommendation has been substantially implemented.
Read more
__________________________________________________________________________________
Solitary confinement of children continues in 2022 - In December 2021, MCW released a
report highlighting the systematic use of solitary confinement by Israeli interrogators when questioning Palestinian children detained in the West Bank. The report noted a sharp increase in the practice from approximately 4 percent of child detainees up to 20 percent each year. While the UN has repeatedly called for a total prohibition on the use of solitary confinement for children due to the impact amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and possibly torture,
evidence collected by MCW in 2022 indicates that Israeli interrogators continue to employ the practice as an effective means to obtain confessions from children.
__________________________________________________________________________________
A child's testimony -
On 21 January 2022, a 17-year-old minor from Azzun was arrested at 4:00 p.m. by Israeli soldiers during clashes. He reports being taken to Huwwara military base where he was held in solitary confinement for 6 days.
"There were clashes with Israeli soldiers at the entrance to my village at around 4:00 p.m. I was followed by a military jeep to the centre of my village. I ran as fast as I could to a friend’s house. The soldiers saw me and followed me into the house where they arrested me. A soldier tied my hands behind my back with two plastic ties on top of each other. He tightened them hard and I was in pain. My hands swelled and I asked the soldier to loosen the ties but he did not do anything."
Read more
__________________________________________________________________________________