Campaign to Free Palestinian Child Political Prisoners

PETITION FOR THE RELEASE OF PALESTINIAN CHILD POLITICAL PRISONERS FROM ISRAELI JAILS AND AN IMMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL INQUIRY INTO ISRAELI PRACTICES TOWARDS PALESTINIAN CHILD DETAINEES.

To: United Nations Human Rights Commission
Mrs. Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

WHEREAS the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Israel is a State Party, outlines in Article 37 that detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.;

WHEREAS Article 37 of the CRC states that, Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and a respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age.;

WHEREAS the CRC, the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and other international treaties explicitly forbid the use of torture during interrogation and incarceration;

AND WHEREAS as of 1 September 2001, over 600 Palestinian children had been arrested by the Israeli authorities since 28 September 2000 and around 160 remained incarcerated in Israeli jails. Moreover, almost all Palestinian child detainees face physical and psychological torture while under interrogation;

WE, the undersigned, call upon the United Nations Human Rights Commission to urgently press for the release of all Palestinian child political prisoners from Israeli prisons and an end to the practice of illegal arrests of Palestinian children.

FURTHERMORE, we call for an immediate inquiry into illegal Israeli practices towards Palestinian child detainees. This inquiry should focus upon the following; the use of torture during interrogation, denial of the right to education while in prison, denial of family and lawyer visits, and the incarceration of Palestinian child political prisoners alongside Israeli juvenile criminal prisoners.