Military Court Watch

UNICEF Update: reforms without change

[18 February 2015] – On 13 February 2015, UNICEF issued its second update since the publication of its report – Children in Israeli Military Detention (March 2013). After reviewing over 400 sworn testimonies UNICEF’s conclusion in 2013 was that “the ill-treatment of children who come in contact with the military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized throughout the process.”

According to UNICEF’s latest update, “reports of alleged ill-treatment of children during arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention have not significantly decreased in 2013 and 2014". This conclusion appears to be based, in part, on 208 affidavits gathered by the UN Working Group on Grave Violations against Children relating to minors detained between 2013 and September 2014. A summary of the evidence presented by UNICEF in its second update is presented in the following table.

Evidence presented by UNICEF in its second update (February 2015) – 208 affidavits

#	Description	No.	%
1	Painfully hand-tied	189	91%
2	Physical violence	171	82%
3	Not adequately informed of legal rights	163	78%
4	Blindfolded	162	78%
5	Strip searched	148	71%
6	Verbal abuse	144	69%
7	Transferred on floor of vehicle	89	43%
8	Arrested at night	79	38%
9	Signed confession in Hebrew	63	30%
10	Solitary confinement	28	13%

Whilst UNICEF’s second update also highlights a number of legislative and procedural changes that have occurred, and refers to an ongoing dialogue process with the military authorities, the evidence appears to confirm that the ill-treatment of children is still “widespread, systematic and institutionalized”. Accordingly, it is reasonable to conclude that the implemented reforms have been largely ineffectual at stemming the violations.

Finally, UNICEF has confirmed that no progress has been made in ensuring that Palestinian children from the West Bank are not forcibly transferred to prisons located inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Links