The Condition of Palestinian Women and Children in Israeli Jails

Overview

• The treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons does not comply with international human rights or with international humanitarian law standards. This report examines how these international law violations are accentuated in the cases of detained women and children.
• Due to the fact that women and children are vulnerable subjects, they are often at risk of violence, abuse and denial of their rights at every stage of the criminal justice process.1 The risks faced by Palestinian children in detention are having a damaging impact on their development and violate established principles of juvenile justice. In the same way, there is a complete disregard of gender sensitive health care and hygiene standards for Palestinian female detainees, sometimes resulting in pregnant women being shackled on their way to hospitals to give birth.2
• This report distinguishes between two types of violations: those occurring during the trial proceedings, including denial of fair trial and administrative detention, and those occurring during detention and in prisons, sometimes amounting to torture.
• Before addressing these substantive issues, the report reconsiders Israel’s obligations under international law, since an understanding of the latter has a bearing on the categorisation of the former.