A new report by UK lawyers, including Sir Stephen Sedley and Baroness Scotland (a former Attorney General), was published in London last night. The UK Foreign Office funded report: Children in military custody – considers the situation facing Palestinian children prosecuted in Israeli military courts.
The report found that Israel is in breach of a
series of articles under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Fourth Geneva Convention. The report concludes by making 40 recommendations
including:
- An end to night time arrests except in extreme circumstances;
- An end to hooding and blindfolding children;
- An end to painfully tying children;
- An end to transferring children on the floor of military vehicles;
- The presence of a family member during interrogation;
- Access to a lawyer prior to interrogation;
- An end to forcing children to sign confessions in Hebrew; and
- An end to transferring children to prisons inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. (See: DCI Urgent Appeal)
The report has been extensively covered in the
UK media:
·
The
Independent – Nothing
resonates like the mistreatment of minors
·
The
Independent – UK
ready to take on Israel over fate of children clapped in irons
·
The
Guardian – Israel
subjecting Palestinian children to ‘spiral of injustice’
·
Channel
4 News – Israel
‘breaches rights of Palestinian children’
·
The
Jewish Chronicle – Israel
‘in breach of international law’ over child detainees
