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Summary: General overview of Israel's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights
Status of the CRC in national law
The Convention on the Rights of the Child does not have the status of domestic law in the Israeli legal system, but does have more limited legal effect as support for a decision reached and as a tool to interpret national law. Israeli courts, including the Supreme Court and District Courts, can and have cited the Convention extensively.
Constitution: there is no Constitution in Israeli law, in the sense of a single codified document, rather eleven “Basic Laws” fulfil the functions of constitutional law. The Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty sets out a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but does not include any that specifically address the rights of children.
Legislation: there is no comprehensive Children's Code in Israeli law, rather provisions of particular relevance to children can be found throughout a number of Laws and Military Orders. Relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to:
- The Penal Law 5737-1977
- The Criminal Procedure Law 5756-1996
- The Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 5722-1962
- The Youth (Trial, Punishment and Modes of Treatment) Law 5731-1977
- The Youth (Care and Supervision) Law 5720-1960
- The Evidence Revision (Protection of Children) Law 5765-2005
- The Youth Employment Law 5713-1953
- Indication of Information Regarding Legislation Influences on the Rights of the Child 5762-2002
- The Adoption of Children Law 5741-1981
- The Kindergartens Supervision Law 5725-1965
- The Safety of Protected Persons Law 5726-1966
- The Welfare (Procedure in Matters of Minors, Mentally Sick Persons and Absent Persons) Law 5715-1955
- The Pupils Rights Law 5761-2000
- The Public Defenders Law
- The Compulsory Education Law 1949-5709
- The Marriage Age Law 5710-1950
- Military Order No. 132
- Military Order No. 378
- Military Order No. 1500
Legal Research
The Basic Laws are available through the website of the Knesset in English (http://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_yesod1.htm). The Knesset website also contains a more extensive selection of bills and legislation in Hebrew (http://main.knesset.gov.il/Activity/Legislation/Pages/default.aspx). The International Labour Organisation website, NATLEX, provides a selection of Israeli legislation in English (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=ISR) as does the World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxweisr.htm). In addition, the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Israel (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Israel1.htm) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2054.html) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/israel.php) both provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources.
Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Israeli courts have cited the convention on the Rights of the child in a number of cases including those involving corporal punishment (http://www.crin.org/Law/instrument.asp?InstID=1449) and family reunification (http://www.crin.org/Law/instrument.asp?InstID=1423).
Case Law Research
The decisions of the Supreme Court are available through the website of the Judicial Authority in English and Hebrew (http://elyon1.court.gov.il/verdictssearch/englishverdictssearch.aspx).
Compliance with the CRC
In its Concluding Observation of 2002, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed the enactment of new legislation children's rights issues, but expressed concern that the implementation of this legislation had been impeded by factors such as insufficient budgetary allocation. The Committee also welcomed the contribution of parliamentary committees with regards to legislative proposals and urged the State to expedite the process to enact such legislation, including by adopting a comprehensive Children's Code.
In depth analysis
The Committee also raised a number of more specific concerns in its 2002 Observations, perhaps the most fundamental of which was the discrimination in legislation with regards to the different definitions of Israeli and Palestinian children. The Committee urged the State to rescind or replace legislation that defined Palestinian children as those under 16 (Military Order No. 132) to bring it in line with that defining Israeli children as persons under 18 years.
Juvenile justice also emerged from the Committee's recommendations as an area of Israeli law incompatible with the Convention. Specifically, the Committee raised concerns that children in Israel were treated differently to children in the occupied Palestinian territories and that Military Orders Numbers 378 and 1500 permitted prolonged incommunicado detention of children without due process or access to legal assistance. The corresponding recommendations called on the State to bring its juvenile justice legislation into conformity with the Convention, including by ensuring that deprivation of liberty is only used as a measure of last resort; by ensuring that children have access to legal aid and an independent complaints mechanism; and by rescinding all military orders that violate international standards on the administration of juvenile justice.
In a related matter, the Committee expressed serious concern at reports of ill-treatment of Palestinian children by police officers during arrest, interrogation and in places of detention. The Committee urged the State to strictly enforce compliance with the prohibition on torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and urged the State to investigate all cases of such treatment and to bring perpetrators to justice.
Current legal reform projects
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects.