New campaign to support the rights of children in Israeli prisons

A number of Palestinian and international organisations have launched a new campaign to support the rights of children detained in Israeli prisons.

The organisations made the announcement at the conclusion of the third International Prisoners’ Conference in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday.

The conference focused on ways to change the Israeli policies towards child detainees including extrajudicial killings and to publish testimonies regarding torture and ill-treatment as well as to discuss ways to reduce the psychological and health consequences of detention, interrogation and torture.

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Participants called for greater pressure to be applied on the Israeli government in order for it to comply with its international obligations in the occupied Palestinian territories and respect child detainees’ rights according to the rules and provisions of international and international humanitarian laws.

They also stressed the need to prosecute Israeli leaders who allow for the physical and psychological torture of children, a crime under international criminal law, and for such cases to be taken to the International Criminal Court.

The conference was organized by the Prisoners Affairs Authority, the Palestinian Bar Association, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and the Global Movement for the Defence of Children and was attended by representatives of international human rights institutions.

According to figures published by rights groups, Israel was detaining 6,500 Palestinian in its jails of January this year. They include 350 children and 50 females.