Ramallah, November 21, 2014–On October 20, the UN Human Rights Committee reviewed Israel's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Israel ratified in 1991.
A DCI-Palestine representative presented testimony to the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, and attended the review where Israel was questioned on its systematic and widespread ill-treatment of Palestinian child detainees. Prior to the review, DCI-Palestine submitted written reports on ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention and other grave violations against children.
Following the review, the committee released its concluding observations expressing concern for continued "widespread, systematic and institutionalized ill-treatment of Palestinian children" and demanding a complete end to torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children.
Ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian child detainees has regularly been raised by UN human rights treaty bodies. In June 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed Israel’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and found that Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces were “systematically subject to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture” and that Israel had “fully disregarded” previous recommendations to comply with international law.
Read DCI-Palestine's written submissions to the Human Rights Committee:
- Situation facing Palestinian children detained by Israeli forces and police in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem
- Impact of Israeli military offensives in the Gaza Strip on Palestinian children
- Israel's use of excessive force against Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank
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