UNICEF: ISRAEL PERSECUTES PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
West Bank, 27 Rabiul Final 1434/9 March 2013 (MINA) – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) issued a report stating that Israel was mistreating Palestinian children. it was holding in its detention and interrogation centers, and added that the abuse against the children was systematic.
This is expressed by UNICEF in a report published in its official website on Thursday (7/3). UNICEF report was based on the studies involving more than 400 children who were detained since 2009. They collect legal documents, official reports of the Israeli government, a report released by human rights agencies, interviews with the children, and Israeli and Palestinian officials.
In its report, UNICEF said that Palestinian children inside Israeli jails are in an average age of 12-17 years. Most of them were men. They abducted, interrogated and imprisoned by the Israeli army. It happens every year in the West Bank.
They also experienced sexual harassment after an interrogation by the Israeli army. That they experienced of no clear judicial and not knowing when they would be released, according to IMEMC report monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Saturday.
UNICEF added that what Israel does to children detained beyond the humanity. “They got a cruel torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. It clearly violates the International law of Convention on the Protection to Children, “it stated.
UNICEF also revealed that Palestinian children encountered ill-treatment that since their arrest. Most of the actions of the arrests were doing at midnight, when Israeli soldiers broke into Palestinian homes. The ill-treatment does not stop there, but continuously throughout the interrogation and detention.
One way to the torture is to close their eyes, binding their hands and feet, then torturing them physically and verbally (scolding).
They were then forced to sign a confession by not allowing them to read it first. No lawyer, legal representative, or family members who can assist them, “it stated again. Families of the children are forbidden to visit them. With the argument that they could be escaped, the parents are not allowed to enter even just looking at them.
Today there are hundreds of Palestinian children who are still imprisoned by Israel, deprived of basic rights such as the right to legal representation, education, decent health care, and many other important issues guaranteed by international law that are not met by Israel. (T/P04/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
