DCI-Palestine submits 15 cases of child abuse to the UN for investigation

[Ramallah, 5 January 2010] - On 5 January 2010, DCI-Palestine submitted 15 cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967. The cases involve children aged 14 and 15, who were arrested and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system in 2009, and accused of throwing stones. All of the children report some form of ill-treatment during their arrest and interrogation, including: painful shackling, slapping and beating, attempted suffocation, as well as the threat of long-term detention, rape and death. DCI-Palestine continues to document the systematic use of coercive techniques being used during the interrogation of children with the apparent purpose of extracting confessions, many of which are written in Hebrew. Fifteen-year-old M.B.'s case is typical, and he recalls his interrogation at Etzion Interrogation and Detention Centre as follows: 'I saw two persons in civilian clothes. One of them placed a white or pink sack over my face for about five minutes, during which time he slapped me twice and said ‘confess that you threw stones.' The sack was removed and I was taken to one of the offices where a policeman was sitting. 'Do you want to confess?' He asked. 'Yes I do,' I said and confessed to throwing stones several times at the Israeli soldiers.' M.B. was then handed a document written in Hebrew which he signed. Fifteen-year-old M.S. was arrested in July 2009, and taken to the Kirya Arba police station in Hebron for interrogation: 'I was taken to a room after they had removed the blindfold. A person in blue uniform was sitting in the room. He asked me whether I threw stones and I told him I did not throw any stones. He lifted my shirt and placed it around my neck and tried to suffocate me. Then, he lowered the shirt. While the shirt was around my neck, this interrogator said he wanted to suffocate and kill me as he had killed two people before. He said he would shock me with an electric stick. ''I'll f**k you and make you sit on a bottle,' he said. I became very scared. 'That's enough, I'll confess to anything you want,' I said to him. 'That's better,' he said. M.S. then confessed to throwing stones at soldiers and signed some papers written in Hebrew. Palestinian children as young as 12 are routinely being interrogated in the absence of a lawyer or family member and without the interrogations being audio-visually recorded. The children invariably provide confessions which are used to convict them in military courts which provide for few fair trial rights. Once convicted, most of these children are then detained inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. DCI-Palestine is requesting that the Special Rapporteur, Richard Falk, investigates these and other reports relating to the apparent widespread and systematic ill-treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to publicly report on his findings. For further information please see DCI-Palestine's latest report on Palestinian child prisoners.