Child detention figures remain high

[Ramallah, 14 September 2009] – According to the latest figures compiled by DCI-Palestine from sources including the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and temporary Israeli army detention, the number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons and detention centres inside Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory at the end of August, was 339. Although there was a slight reduction in the number of children in detention compared with the previous month (3 children), the average number of Palestinian children held in Israeli detention in 2009 remains high, at 375 per month, compared with 319, in 2008. This represents an increase of 17.5%. Disturbingly, the number of young children between the ages of 12 and 15 being detained in August 2009 (39 children), was up 85% on the corresponding period in 2008 (21 children). Israel is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) which provides that ‘the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child … shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.’ Number of Palestinian children in Israeli detention at the end of each month since January 2008 Year/Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2008 327 307 325 327 337 323 324 293 304 297 327 342 2009 389 423 420 391 346 355 342 339 - - - - (note: these figures are not cumulative) If you wish to take action, then please consider lobbying your elected representatives and demand that pressure be applied on Israeli authorities to cease the practice of prosecuting Palestinian children as young as 12 in military courts, and detaining them inside Israel. For further information please see DCI-Palestine’s latest report on Palestinian child prisoners.