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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports. Scroll to: UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders ---------------------------------------- Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir (A/HRC/10/8/Add.2) Country visit: 20 – 27 January 2008 Report published: 12 January 2009 Ms. Jahangir identified the following concerns: Religious holidays: Furthermore, on several occasions age restrictions have been imposed by the Government of Israel on the access to al-Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in Jerusalem. During Ramadan in 2007, for example, sometimes only Palestinians over the age of 45 were allowed entrance and at other times only Jerusalem identity cardholders or only residents of the old city over the age of 50 were permitted. On some Fridays, children were allowed to cross Israeli checkpoints with older relatives but on the last Friday of Ramadan in 2007 even young children were reportedly turned back. On 21 September 2007, no access was permitted for Palestinians from the West Bank since all checkpoints were closed for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. (para 28) Discrimination: There have also been worrying reports from the Occupied Palestinian Territory on cases of incitement to religious hatred vis-à-vis Jews. One shocking example brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur was a broadcast in March 2007, in which the interviewer from Al-Aqsa TV in Gaza asked the two young children of a Palestinian suicide bomber “how many Jews” their mother had killed and if they wanted to join her in paradise. Furthermore, some Palestinian schoolbooks allegedly continue to idealize martyrdom and glorify the aspiration to seek a violent death in the name of religion. The Special Rapporteur would like to recall article 20 (2) of the Covenant which requires that any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. (para 57) It is particularly worrying when children are being incited to express hatred toward those with a different religious affiliation. Education for tolerance, respect and recognition of diversity seems vital to get out of a vicious circle of discrimination, hostility and violence. In addition, long-term confidence building measures are required on all sides and at various levels. The Special Rapporteur would like to refer to the International Consultative Conference on School Education in Relation to Freedom of Religion or Belief, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination, in which both the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority actively participated. The Madrid Final Document (E/CN.4/2002/73, appendix), which was adopted by consensus on 25 November 2001, emphasizes that the young generation should be brought up in a spirit of peace, tolerance, mutual understanding and respect for human rights - especially for the respect of freedom of religion or belief - and that it should be protected against all forms of discrimination and intolerance based on religion or belief. Appropriate measures should be taken against such forms of intolerance and discrimination which manifest themselves in school curricula, textbooks and teaching methods as well as those disseminated by the media and the new information technologies, including the Internet. Furthermore, teachers and students should be provided with voluntary opportunities for meetings with their counterparts of different religions or beliefs. (para 75) Religious conversion: Religious conversion of children is regulated by the Guardianship and Legal Capacity Law 1962. Children who have not yet reached the age of ten may be converted if both of their parents agree to conversion or if the court approves conversion upon the application of one of the parents. The religious conversion of children who have reached ten years of age requires both an application by their parents and the consent of the children. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur would like to reiterate that the choice of religion is restricted by the parents’ rights to determine their child’s religion up to an age where the child is capable of doing so on his or her own. Such a case-by-case approach is also supported by article 12 (1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requests States parties to “assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”. (para 59) ------------------------------------ Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism, Martin Scheinin (A/HRC/6/17/Add.4) Country visit: 3 – 10 July 2007 Report published: 16 November 2007 Mr. Scheinin identified the following concerns: Detainment: It was therefore troubling to the Special Rapporteur to receive reports of the continued use by Israel of interrogation techniques such as beatings, sleep deprivation, use of the “shabach” position (where a person’s hands are tied behind his back, and he is seated for long periods on a small and low chair tilted forward towards the ground), and excessively tight handcuffs. It is reported that child detainees have been subject to similar treatment, and threats being made of having the child’s family members beaten or their family home destroyed. (para 19) Of the 700 Palestinian children arrested in 2006, 25 were held on administrative detention orders. Article 37 (b) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires, inter alia, that the detention or imprisonment of a child be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. There are also reports that solitary confinement has been used by prison authorities as a means of encouraging confessions from children, or as a punishment for infractions of prison rules. Rule 67 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice prohibits disciplinary measures against children to include solitary confinement. Furthermore, whereas rule 26 (2) requires child detainees to receive educational care according to their age, it is reported that Hasharon prison, being one of five Israeli prisons at which children are detained, is the only facility providing Palestinian child prisoners with education facilities. (para 28) [The Special Rapporteur] further urges Israel to ensure that the detention or imprisonment of a child be used as a measure of last resort, that solitary confinement never be used by prison authorities as a means of coercion or punishment of children, and that all facilities in which children are detained provide educational care appropriate to the age of each child. (para 58) Education: As a result of the barrier, Palestinian children encounter significant obstacles in attending or remaining at educational institutions. It also affects the movement of teaching staff, whether this be as a result of the barrier having been erected between “closed” communities and educational facilities, or the difficulties in obtaining special permits from the Israel Defense Forces to enter areas in which educational facilities are present. As reflected in article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is the duty of an occupying power to cooperate with national and local authorities to facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children. The Special Rapporteur was very troubled by reports of incidents involving attacks by the Israel Defense Forces on students, military raids on schools and the destruction of schools and school property. (para 41) Health: Delays at checkpoints have complicated childbirth for Palestinian women. This has resulted in the delivery of children at checkpoints and unattended roadside births, putting at risk the health of both child and mother, and leading to numerous miscarriages and the death of at least five mothers. These hardships are reported to have contributed to an 8.2 per cent increase in home deliveries. The Special Rapporteur was furthermore troubled to hear of three cases in April 2007 in which Palestinian ambulance drivers are said to have been harassed and beaten at checkpoints in the Jenin area. If true, not only were the civil rights of those individuals violated, as was the right to physical and mental health for all, as guaranteed under article 12 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but it would also constitute a violation of international humanitarian law norms, which require that medical personnel be respected and protected at all times. (para 40) Violence: Despite a decision of the Supreme Court of Israel in 2005 banning the use of human shields, the Special Rapporteur received allegations supported by videotape recordings of recent incidents in Nablus and Balata that Palestinians, including children, continue to be exposed to violence during the conduct of Israel Defense Forces operations by either forcing them to enter potentially dangerous buildings ahead of Israeli soldiers or to stand in front of military vehicles to stop the throwing of stones against those vehicles. Such unprofessional conduct may be deeply traumatizing for the individuals in question, in particular children, and has the effect of causing frustration and anger among the Palestinian people. (para 48) The Special Rapporteur was encouraged to hear from the Israeli Security Agency its position that civilians taking direct part in hostilities may not be attacked if less harmful means, such as arrest and trial, can be employed, consistent with the decision of the Supreme Court. Such an approach, regrettably, does not appear to be borne out by statistics on civilian deaths. A total of 678 Palestinian civilians were killed in 2006, of which 127 were children. Between the start of the intifada in 2000 and the end of 2005, 728 Palestinian children were killed as a result of Israeli military activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, representing the highest number of child fatalities at the hand of Israeli forces in any five-year period since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank. The Special Rapporteur was alarmed to receive reports of the killing of persons apprehended by Israeli agents in situations where such persons could have been arrested or provided with medical treatment to prevent death. (para 53) ------------------------------------ Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights, John Dugard (E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.3) Country visit: 1 – 8 December 2006 Report published: 29 January 2007 Mr. Dugard identified the following concerns: Health: Living conditions in Gaza are bleak in a society dominated by poverty, unemployment and military assault. (…) Mental health is a serious problem, particularly among children, as a result of the trauma inflicted by military incursions and the death or injury of friends and family. Education has been affected by military assaults: schools have been closed and school buildings destroyed. Domestic violence and ordinary crime are on the increase. In 2006 nearly 200 Palestinians were killed and 1,000 injured in internal disputes and factional violence. Morale is low. The very fabric of Gazan society is threatened by the siege. (para 20) Education: The absurdity of the Wall in Jerusalem is illustrated by the case of ar-Ram. Some 60,000 people live in the suburb of ar-Ram just outside the municipal boundary of Jerusalem. About half of the residents are Jerusalemites who left Jerusalem because of the restrictions placed on Palestinians’ building houses in the city. They are completely dependent on Jerusalem for work, education and hospitals. Yet now they are surrounded by the Wall and cut off from Jerusalem. To get to work, school or hospital they must travel a circuitous route of several kilometres and pass through the international terminal-like checkpoint at Qalandiya, and they may only do this if they have the correct permit. A journey that previously took them minutes is now extended into hours. (para 29) (...)Undoubtedly the most aggravated settler behaviour occurs in Hebron, where Palestinian schoolchildren are assaulted and humiliated on their way to schools, shopkeepers are beaten and residents live in fear of settler terror. (...) (para 34) Detainment: There are some 9,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails charged with or convicted of security offences, which range from violent acts against the Israeli Defense Forces to anti-Israeli political activities. This figure includes some 400 children and over 100 women. In addition there are over 700 administrative detainees, i.e. persons held without charge or trial, simply on the ground that the occupying Power regards them as security risks. (para 43) ------------------------------------ UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani (E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.3) Country visit: 5 – 11 October 2005 Report published: 10 March 2006 Ms. Jilani identified the following concerns: Humanitarian services: The Special Representative remains deeply concerned at the continuing obstruction of humanitarian services. Several incidents have been reported to her of undue delay and denial of access to ambulances, and the killing, wounding, arrest and detention, abuse and humiliation of ambulance drivers, paramedics and medical professionals. These violations had attained serious dimensions in 2002 during Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield. However the incidents continue to occur in clear violation of international humanitarian law. Dozens of unsafe deliveries in which both mothers and infants have died at checkpoints have been documented by the United Nations. (para 49) Settler violence: According to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, settler violence is on the increase, with 68 incidents reported in May 2005 and 67 in June. Settler violence occurs across the West Bank, and previously Gaza, with Israeli authorities rarely intervening or investigating complaints. In this hostile environment, the role of the human rights defender is to watch over, accompany and shield Palestinians from violence such as being beaten or stoned by groups of settlers. They walk Palestinian children to and from school, assist pregnant women or the elderly gain safe passage to medical facilities. Such basic tasks require considerable courage and determination considering the level of impunity that settlers enjoy for violations of the Palestinians’ right to security of person and property. (para 56) ------------------------------------ UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Yakin Ertürk (E/CN.4/2005/72/Add.4) Country visit: 13 – 18 June 2004 Report published: 2 February 2005 Ms. Ertürk identified the following concerns: Violence: The situation in Gaza is like an open prison, with Israel totally controlling the movements in and out of the area. (...) Palestinian civilians, including women and children, were shot without warning. On the first day of the incursion a 14-year-old girl was killed, followed by many more injuries on the second day as troops opened fire on demonstrators. I was unfortunately unable to visit Rafah, as IDF closed the road on the day I was scheduled to travel there. (para 15) I heard testimonies from female refugees in Jenin who reported that during the two-week military incursion in 2002, IDF sent missiles into the camp, killing and injuring women and children, and demolishing homes. Ambulances were prevented from entering the camp, resulting in death due to lack of medical care. Women were used as human shields to enter houses. Many men were arrested and detained incommunicado for a period of six months. Women and children were disabled and suffer post-traumatic stress as a result. (para 16) On 9 November 2000, two Palestinian women were among the first victims of Israel’s policy to implement targeted assassinations of alleged Palestinian terrorists. According to the 2003 annual report of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, between 29 September 2000 and 31 December 2003 Israel carried out a total of 160 assassination operations, killing 327 Palestinians (13.7 per cent of the total number of Palestinians killed in the same period), among them 14 non-targeted women. Hundreds of men, women and children bystanders have also been wounded in these operations. According to DCI, at least 584 Palestinian children, 67 of whom were girls, have died and thousands have been injured since September 2000. Twenty-four of the girls perished during Israeli air and ground attacks on their homes and 13 died from random fire while conducting everyday activities. Another source shows that of the estimated 3,207 Palestinians killed since 2000, 590 were children and 230 women, 255 were victims of targeted killings, and 40,000 were wounded in the same time period. According to Palestinian Red Crescent Society data, from September 2000 to September 2004 a total of 27,879 Palestinians were injured and 3,332 killed, of which 132 were women and 74 girls. (para 45) Residence permit: According to the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (A/58/311), in Jerusalem tens of thousands of Palestinian families live in the city without residence permits since they fled and returned after the 1967 war. The absence of a residence permit deprives them of health and social services and prevents children from attending Israeli public schools. (para 22) Reproductive health: According to one report, during the two years of the intifada the number of stillborn births in the West Bank increased by 500 per cent, the number of babies born at home doubled and there were at least 39 cases of births at army roadblocks. Restrictions on movement have also increased the number of home deliveries. According to UNICEF figures of 8 March 2004, the number of home deliveries increased from 8.2 to 14 per cent since 2002. During the same period, the number of women attending post-natal care decreased from 95.6 to 82.4 per cent. Also since 2002, 52 pregnant women gave birth at military checkpoints. Between September 2000 and December 2002, 19 women and 29 newborn infants died at military checkpoints. In addition, 37.9 per cent of women reported that access to health services became difficult. This was due, according to 44.3 per cent of these women, to the Israeli siege and for another 27.9 per cent to the lack of money to pay for health services. (para 24) Detainment: The NGO Defence for Children International (DCI) reports that since the start of the intifada the Israeli military has detained 2,500 children of whom 403 remain in detention, of whom 116 have been sentenced. Many were picked up in mass arrest campaigns in 2002, held incommunicado without access to a lawyer or a social worker and denied contact with family. Some were eventually released without charge while others have been held for longer periods, transferred from police stations to interrogation centres and prisons within Israel where they await trial. The majority of the Palestinian detainees under the age of 18 are held in Telmond Central Prison along with Israeli juvenile criminal detainees, while some remain in a variety of other detention centres. (para 34) According to DCI research, the majority of girl detainees have been held for allegedly committing serious security offences, such as attempting to kill Israeli settlers or military personnel. During the second intifada, Palestinian women began training to become suicide bombers. From January 2002 to January 2004, seven Palestinian women conducted suicide bombings and approximately four more were arrested before they could carry out planned attacks. During my visit, two girls, aged 14 and 15 were arrested at night under suspicion of planning a suicide bombing (Haaretz, Israeli daily newspaper, 17 June 2004). The heightened security measures resulting from such suicide bombing has made women prime suspects at checkpoints, where they may be subject to body searches and detained under administrative order. DCI research shows that many of the girls thus detained were not involved in terrorist acts. (para 40) In a conservative culture where families and communities keep girls under close scrutiny, a community may regard the modesty and innocence of a girl who has been detained as having been violated because of her absence from public view. Such stigmatization can have lifelong repercussions. (…) (para 41) ------------------------------------ Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler (E/CN.4/2004/10/Add.2) Country visit: 3 – 12 July 2003 Report published: 31 October 2003 Mr. Ziegler identified the following concerns: Malnutrition: Malnutrition levels amongst Palestinians have increased rapidly since September 2000 [the second intifada]. (…) The report of the Personal Humanitarian Envoy of the Secretary-General, Catherine Bertini (2002) also regards the increase in malnutrition as an indicator of a growing humanitarian crisis. Over 22 per cent of children under 5 were suffering from malnutrition (9.3 per cent suffering from acute malnutrition and 13.2 per cent suffering from chronic malnutrition) in 2002. Around 15.6 per cent of children under 5 suffered from acute anaemia, which for many will have permanent negative effects on their physical and mental development. (…) (para 9) ------------------------------------- Visits requested Visits accepted
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity