Letter from Israel-Palestine: Children in military detention

I have just received a copy of a report from Military Court Watch titled "Children in military detention" from Hind Khoury, General Secretary, Kairos Palestine. It makes compulsive reading. In it's executive summary, the report highlights four main points as reproduced below:

In March 2013, UNICEF published a report which found that: "The ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized throughout the process, from the moment of arrest until the child's prosecution and eventual conviction and sentencing."

In response to this finding the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it would "study the conclusions and work to implement them through on-going cooperation with UNICEF".

1.2 During the intervening two years there has been a significant level of official Israeli activity in response to the UNICEF report including dialogue, amendments to the military law and the re-issuance of standard operating military procedures in a clear acknowledgement that there are fundamental problems with the system.

1.3 However, in spite of all this activity, UNICEF reported in February 2015 that: "reports of alleged ill-treatment of children during arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention have not significantly decreased in 2013 and 2014". This finding suggests that the reforms that have taken place have been largely ineffectual in stemming the abuse.

1.4 To mark two years since the publication of the UNICEF Report, MCW has conducted its own review of developments in both law and practice that have occurred during the intervening period, the findings of which are presented in the following pages. This review also relies on testimonial evidence collected from 185 children.

In summary, MCW has found that at least 87 per cent of UNICEF's recommendations lack effective implementation and the ill treatment of children who come in in contact with this system still remains "widespread, systematic and institutionalized".

The full report is an expose of systemic and institutionalized brutality. Earlier reports that prison reforms were underway, especially for children, have proven false. Reforms have been largely ineffectual in stemming patterns of abuse and ill treatment.

The full report can be found in the following link: www.militarycourtwatch.org/files/serve/PROGRESS%20REPORT%20-%20APRIL%202015.pdf<http://www.militarycourtwatch.org/files/server/PROGRESS%20REPORT%20-%20APRIL%202015.pdf

We invite you to read and disseminate this information widely as a way of creating consciousness and prompting global advocacy for the protection of children in custody.

In solidarity

Ranjan Solomon

Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum