Detention of young children up 64%

According to the latest figures compiled by DCI-Palestine from sources including the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and temporary Israeli army detention facilities, the number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons and detention centres inside Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory at the end of November, was 306.

In November, the number of Palestinian children held in Israeli detention facilities fell to 306, the lowest figure this year. However, the monthly average number of Palestinian children held in Israeli detention in 2009 still remains high, at 360 per month, compared with 319 in 2008. This represents an increase of 13%.

DCI-Palestine continues to be deeply concerned by the high number of young children between the ages of 12 and 15 being detained. At the end of November 2009, 41 children in this age category were being held in Israeli detention facilities, compared with 25 children in November 2008. This represents an increase of 64%.

One child, Hamdi al Tamari, remains in administrative detention, being detention without charge or trial. Hamdi is currently serving his fourth consecutive administrative detention order.

As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Israel is legally bound to give effect to Article 37 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.’

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.