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To: Mrs. Mary
Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
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. Mary Robinson, 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.
Sincerely,
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