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Summary: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, urged the Government of Israel to adopt guidelines for the protection of Palestinian children living under occupation who are arrested or detained, in line with international humanitarian and human rights standards.
“Prolonged occupation deforms the development of children through pervasive deprivations affecting health, education, and overall security,” warned the independent expert, Mr Falk, in a report* to the UN General Assembly. Mr. Falk noted that insecurity of Palestinian children is aggravated in the West Bank by settler violence and night time raids and detentions by Israeli occupation forces, house demolitions, threatened expulsions, and other practices. In Gaza, it is made worst by the blockade and violent incursions, and the still unrepaired destruction of refugee camps, residential communities, and public buildings by Israeli forces during ‘Operation Cast Lead.’ “Since 2007, the number of Palestinian children arrested and prosecuted has risen each year, and there is abundant evidence of child abuse associated with interrogations and arrests of children,” the rights expert said. “Arrest procedures documented include arrests in the middle of the night, removal of child from parents for questioning, abusive treatment in detention, and conviction procedures that appear to preclude findings of not guilty.” The report notes an instance in which a three-year old girl was taken outside her home at 3 am and threatened at gun point: “She was told she would be shot and her family home destroyed unless she revealed the whereabouts of her brother,” Mr. Falk said, “and now, her mother explained, she can’t sleep through the night and bedwets.” The expert also noted the frequent settler harassment of Palestinian children on their way to school, which is not stopped by Israeli forces, and has reportedly discouraged many children and their families from attending school. “The failure to prevent and punish settler violence remains a serious and on-going violation of Israel’s fundamental legal obligation to protect the civilian population.”