Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) urged the European Union to pressure Israeli authorities to end ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system.
This came during a meeting organized by the European Coordinating Committee for Palestine (ECCP) on the plight of Palestinian child prisoners.
Khaled Quzmar the general director of DCIP addressed the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Palestine in Brussels during the meeting on the plight of Palestinian child prisoners.
Other speakers included Sahar Francis general director of Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association a local Palestinian human rights organization and Simon Ingram a representative from UNICEF’s Brussels office.
Quzmar focused on the effects of escalating violence across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem since October 2015 and the rapidly deteriorating situation facing Palestinian children living under prolonged Israeli military occupation.
He called on members to hold Israeli authorities accountable to international law and end systemic impunity for grave violations against Palestinian children.
Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes between 500 and 700 children in military courts each year. A recent report released by DCIP in April found three out of four Palestinian children endured some form of physical violence following arrest and 97 percent of children had no parent present during the interrogation or access to legal counsel.
By the end of February 2016 Israel was holding 440 Palestinian children in custody … more than twice the monthly average since 2011 and the highest number at any given point since the Israel Prison Service began releasing data in 2008.
Israeli authorities have also renewed the use of administrative detention against Palestinian children. Since October 2015 DCIP has documented the use of administrative detention against 20 Palestinian children. Six of them remain in administrative detention including one that has since turned 18 years old.
