- Concern regarding numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations of the use of torture and ill-treatment taking place before, during and after interrogations.
- Deep concern at reports that Palestinian children are detained and interrogated in the absence of a lawyer or family member and are allegedly subjected to acts in breach of the Convention against Torture in order to obtain confessions.
- Concern at reports that approximately 700 Palestinian children are detained annually and are prosecuted in Israeli military courts.
- Concern at reports that in 95% of cases involving Palestinian children before the Israeli military courts, conviction is obtained using confessions extracted during interrogation.
- Concern that all but one of the prisons where Palestinian children are detained are located in Israel, hindering family visits. (This contravenes Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention).
- Concern that administrative detention does not conform to Article 16 of the Convention against Torture (cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) because, among other reasons, it is used for inordinately lengthy periods of time and detainees are unable to challenge the evidence which is the basis for the detention."
Matéria completa:
May 18, 2009Via DCI/PS - Defence for Children International/Palestine Section
UN Committee Against Torture expresses 'deep concern' at Israel's treatment of detained children
[Ramallah, 18 May 2009] - On 15 May 2009, the UN Committee Against Torture (the Committee) concluded its 42nd session in Geneva by issuing concluding observations and recommendations on periodic reports submitted by five states, including Israel.The Committee, which is made up of 10 independent experts, received written and oral submissions from government officials and non-governmental organisations before and during its review of Israel's Fourth Periodic Report on 5 and 6 May 2009. As part of the United Against Torture Coalition (UAT Coalition), DCI-Palestine submitted three reports [1, 2, 3] and over 150 pages of evidence [1, 2] as well as sending a representative to Geneva to give a presentation before the Committee.
In its Concluding Observations and recommendations to Israel's Fourth Periodic Report, the Committee expressed:
- Concern regarding numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations of the use of torture and ill-treatment taking place before, during and after interrogations.
- Deep concern at reports that Palestinian children are detained and interrogated in the absence of a lawyer or family member and are allegedly subjected to acts in breach of the Convention against Torture in order to obtain confessions.
- Concern at reports that approximately 700 Palestinian children are detained annually and are prosecuted in Israeli military courts.
- Concern at reports that in 95% of cases involving Palestinian children before the Israeli military courts, conviction is obtained using confessions extracted during interrogation.
- Concern that all but one of the prisons where Palestinian children are detained are located in Israel, hindering family visits. (This contravenes Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention).
- Concern that administrative detention does not conform to Article 16 of the Convention against Torture (cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) because, among other reasons, it is used for inordinately lengthy periods of time and detainees are unable to challenge the evidence which is the basis for the detention.
DCI-Palestine welcomes these comments and endorses the recommendations made by the Committee, which include the following:
The Committee also emphasised that according to the Convention against Torture, 'no exceptional circumstances' including security or a war or threat to security of the state justifies torture.
- All allegations of torture and ill-treatment should be promptly and effectively investigated and all perpetrators should be prosecuted and, if applicable, appropriately punished.
- Israeli Military Order 132 should be amended to ensure that the definition of a child is 18, in line with international standards. (Currently under Israeli military law applied to Palestinians in the West Bank, the age of majority is 16).
- All child detainees held by Israeli authorities should be afforded basic safeguards, before and during interrogations, including prompt access to an independent lawyer, an independent doctor and family member from the outset of their detention.
- Children should not be convicted in the Israeli military courts based solely on the evidence of a confession given during interrogation.
- A youth court should be established by Israeli authorities in the Occupied Territory as a matter of priority.
- Israeli authorities should make every effort to facilitate family visits to child detainees, including expanding the right of freedom of movement of relatives to travel to Israel where most children are detained.
- All interrogations conducted by Israeli authorities should be video recorded as a means to prevent torture and ill-treatment.
- Israeli authorities should review, as a matter of priority, its policies regarding administrative detention (detention without charge or trial) as they currently constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in contravention of Article 16 of the Convention against Torture.
DCI-Palestine will continue to urge Israeli authorities to cease the widespread and systematic use of ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children arrested, interrogated and detained by Israeli forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. DCI-Palestine will also continue to encourage the international community to take a more active role in this struggle to eradicate the use of these illegal practices against children, wherever they may occur.
Vale também ler:
Israeli military continues to torture Palestinian children[RAMALLAH, 26 June 2008] - On the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, DCI/PS releases further evidence that Israeli military forces in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) continue to abuse, threaten and torture Palestinian children.
Today, DCI/PS is releasing two case studies to draw attention to the continuing plight of Palestinian children, in particular, the 700 Palestinian children who are arrested, interrogated and often abused by the Israeli military and police each year.
In one case, Israeli interrogators beat 15-year-old Ibrahim S. over the course of several hours. Ibrahim was then threatened with sexual assault for the purpose of extracting his confession. The accusation, which Ibrahim kept denying, was that he had thrown stones at the Israeli army when it invaded his village the day before. A Military Court accepted Ibrahim’s confession and he was imprisoned in Israel for five months.
In the second case, 14-year-old Mohammad E. was standing with a group of friends near the Wall which passes close to his village near Ramallah. Mohammad was suddenly grabbed by four men in plain clothes who proceeded to hit him about the head with the butts of their guns whilst spraying his face with tear gas. Bleeding from wounds sustained during his arrest Mohammad was coerced into signing papers written in Hebrew in which he confessed to throwing stones at the Wall. An Israeli Military Court accepted this confession and sentenced Mohammad to four and-a-half months’ imprisonment.
“Palestinian children like Mohammad and Ibrahim are routinely exposed to physical and psychological abuse, amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, and sometimes torture during arrest, interrogation and imprisonment,” said George Abu Al Zulof, DCI/PS General Director. “Unfortunately, these cases are not isolated incidents as Palestinian children are systematically subjected to such abuses by the Israeli military authorities”, he said.
Israel is a signatory to a number of international conventions, including the UN Convention against Torture which strictly prohibits the use of torture and abuse in all circumstances. In 1999, the Israeli High Court responded to mounting pressure to deal with the increasing number of allegations of torture and agreed that an interrogation must be free of torture and any degrading treatment whatsoever, and that these prohibitions are absolute, without exception.
DCI/PS is deeply concerned that the Israeli army and police are continuing to act above the law in the oPt and those who commit these acts of torture and abuse appear to do so with complete immunity, whilst the international community, well aware of the situation, turns a blind eye.
“We urge the international community to take effective action now. Israel must ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Torture*, treat torture as a crime and prosecute and punish those guilty of it”, concluded, George Abu Al Zulof.
* The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture aims to establish a system of independent visits to places of detention in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Via DCI/PS - Defence for Children International/Palestine Section
