Each year approximately 700 Palestinian children (12-17 years) from the West Bank are prosecuted in Israeli military courts after being arrested, interrogated and detained by the Israeli army, police or security agents. It is estimated that since the year 2000, around 7,000 Palestinian children have been detained and prosecuted in the system. Credible reports of torture and/or ill-treatment during the arrest, transfer and interrogation stages in the system have persisted for years. The majority of these children are charged with throwing stones.

Background

Since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in 1967, Palestinians have been charged with offences under Israeli military law and tried in Israeli military courts. It is estimated by the UN that since 1967, over 700,000 Palestinian men, women and children have been detained under Israeli military orders.

The Israeli military detention system consists of a network of military bases, interrogation and detention centres, and police stations in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and in Israel, where Palestinians, predominantly from the West Bank, are initially taken for questioning and temporary detention. Some of these facilities are inside settlements in the West Bank. Palestinians, including children, remain at these facilities while awaiting sentencing by the military courts, or are transferred to prisons, most of which are located inside Israel, where they wait to be sentenced, or to serve out their prison terms. It should be noted that transferring children out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory violates Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

An Israeli juvenile military court was established in September 2009, following mounting criticism relating to the prosecution of children as young as 12 years in the same military courts used to prosecute adults. In practice, the juvenile military court convenes every Monday and Thursday, using the same facilities and court staff used by the adult military courts. Children continue to be brought into court in groups of twos and threes, wearing leg chains around their ankles and dressed in the same brown prison uniforms worn by adults.

Military Order 1651 establishes a minimum age of criminal responsibility at 12 years, and sets out the maximum penalties that can be imposed on children in various age categories for a number of listed offences. The most common offence that children are charged with in the military courts is for stone throwing.

Torture and ill-treatment

The issue of greatest concern are persistent reports of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (torture and ill-treatment). Both torture and ill-treatment are absolutely prohibited under international law, including the UN Convention against Torture, ratified by Israel in 1991. This legal prohibition expressly states that there are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever that permit torture.

The ill-treatment starts at the moment of arrest when many children report experiencing terrifying night time raids on the family home, before being tied, often painfully so, and blindfolded. The destabilising effect of these night-time arrests is compounded by the fact that few parents are informed where their child is being taken to, often in the middle of the night. The common experience of many children is that the journey to the interrogation centre is routinely accompanied by further suffering, either because of the way the child is restrained, or because of further physical or verbal abuse. The transfer process can take many hours and often includes intermediate stops at settlements or military bases where further ill-treatment occurs, including in some cases, prolonged exposure to the elements, and a lack of water and toilet facilities.

On arrival at the interrogation centre, children are questioned alone and rarely appear to be informed of their rights, particularly the rights against self-incrimination. The interrogation techniques frequently include a mix of intimidation, threats and physical violence with a clear purpose of obtaining a confession, which in some cases, are written in Hebrew, a language few Palestinian children understand.

Military court proceedings

Once the interrogation stage of the system is concluded, the majority of children remain in pre-trial detention awaiting their prosecution before a military court. The primary evidence against most children in the military courts will either be their confession, or the confession of another child who has been subjected to similar treatment. In the overwhelming majority of cases children will plead guilty because this is the quickest way for them to get out of the system.

Recommendations

DCI-Palestine makes a number of recommendations in relation to the prosecution of Palestinian children in Israeli military courts, while at the same time recognising the inherent incompatibility of a long term military occupation with a safe and protective environment for children.

• No child should be interrogated in the absence of a lawyer of choice and family member.
• All interrogations of children must be audio-visually recorded.
• All credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be thoroughly and impartially investigated in accordance with international standards, and perpetrators brought promptly to justice.

Useful links

Military Order 1651