Military Court Watch

Threats

A significant number of minors continue to report being threatened during arrest, transfer and/or interrogation although there has been a small decline in the number of reports in 2015. The types of threats reported include: detained for life; beating; placed in a stress position; indefinite detention; thrown off a roof; removal of finger nails; placed in solitary confinement; electrocution; shooting; shouting and intimidation; threats against the child's family; threats to demolish the family home; prevented from seeing family again; placed in a room with snakes and scorpions; assaulted with a power drill ; denial of food; falsely exposed as a collabortor; threatened with dogs; rape and castration.

International juvenile justice standards prohibit degrading treatment and emphasise that the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. In accordance with these standards, UNICEF has noted that all children in contact with judicial systems should be treated with dignity and respect at all times.

Israeli military standard operating procedures and policies relating to the arrest of minors stipulate that: “at all stages of the arrest and transfer process to an interrogation centre, the commander of the force must ensure that the detainee’s dignity is upheld, including: the detainee must not be subjected to physical or verbal violence, or any other inappropriate behavior”.

The evidence indicates that both international standards and Israeli military standard operating procedures continue to be ignored in many cases.

Additional cases