Submitted by crinadmin on
[12 November 2007] - Throughout the first half of this year, Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip continued to violate the most basic rights of Palestinian children, including their right to life, according to NGO Defence for Children Palestine (DCI/PS). Between 1 January and 30 June, DCI/PS documented the killing of 30 Palestinian children as a direct result of Israeli military activity in the Palestinian territory, bringing the total number of children killed since the beginning of the Intifada to 882. The circumstances in which these 30 children were killed include: use of lethal force against children who demonstrate or throw stones, use of lethal force against children who attempt to cross into Israel or escape arrest, indiscriminate shelling, indiscriminate fire during incursions; and extrajudicial targeted assassinations (which oftentimes result in the killing of many non-targeted civilians). None of the 30 children killed were armed, although there is some indication that one child intended to make a Molotov cocktail before he was killed. The right to life is the basis for the realisation of all other rights. It is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 6 of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), treaties that Israel is legally and morally bound to uphold in the territories under its jurisdiction. The right to life is non-derogable, which signifies that even in public emergencies that threaten the security of a nation, no State is allowed to arbitrarily deprive an individual of his/her life. Despite these obligations, the Israeli military continues to use disproportionate and indiscriminate methods of warfare resulting in the deaths of many Palestinian children, in violation of basic principles of International Humanitarian Law. As an occupying power, Israel also has a duty to uphold standards of International Human Rights Law in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Some 40 per cent of the killings listed in this report took place in West Bank cities that were reoccupied by the Israeli military in the year 2002 after the military campaign ―Operation Defensive Shield; 60 per cent took place in the Gaza Strip, over which Israel retains effective military control, despite the summer 2005 disengagement, and which is therefore still legally occupied. In addition, as a State Party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has a duty to uphold International Humanitarian Law standards concerning the protection of civilians in the occupied territory. However, DCI/PS documentation on the circumstances in which the 30 children were killed indicates that war crimes have been committed by Israel. In cases where the killing of these children amounts to a war crime, or a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, those who committed or ordered the crime are subject to individual criminal responsibility under International Criminal Law. However, the Israeli government has so far failed to uphold its legal obligation to investigate the killing of Palestinian children. Israel has opened only one investigation among the 30 cases of children killed in the first half of 2007, thereby demonstrating Israel‘s flagrant disregard for the lives of Palestinian children. This negligence is further illustrated by Israel‘s policies denying Palestinian children their right to survival and development - inherently related to their right to life (UNCRC Article 6). The continuing policy of total isolation of the Gaza Strip and the construction of the Wall and its associated regime in the West Bank are seriously harming children‘s survival and human development. Further information
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/DCInov10.pdf