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New DCI report: Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted: Children held in military detention (2012)

 

Posted on: 24 Mar 2012 | Filed under:

• Publications
• Detention
• Ill Treatment / Torture

On 20 March 2012, DCI-Palestine launched a new report: Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted: Children held in military detention.

The report is the culmination of four year’s work by DCI, with the support of the European Union, focusing on verifying reports of ill-treatment and torture of children in the Israeli military detention system. The findings of the report are based on 311 sworn affidavits taken from children between January 2008 and January 2012. The report also includes:
 

• An interview with a lawyer who represents children in the military courts;
• An interview with the director of the YMCA rehabilitation programme;
• An interview with an Israeli soldier, courtesy of Breaking the Silence;
• A Psychological opinion into the effects of military detention on children; and
• 25 case studies taken from child-detainees.

The report found that there is a systematic pattern of ill-treatment, and in some cases torture, of children held in the military detention system, with the majority of the abuse occurring during the first 48 hours. The key findings of the report are presented in the table below:

#	Common complaints and areas of concern	Number of cases	Percentage of children
1	Hand ties	296	95%
2	Blindfolds	281	90%
3	Physical violence	234	75%
4	Detention inside Israel in violation of Article 76	196	63%
5	Arrested between midnight and 5:00 am	188	60%
6	Confession during interrogation	180	58%
7	Threats	178	57%
8	Verbal abuse and/or humiliation	169	54%
9	Strip searched	102	33%
10	Transferred on floor of vehicle	98	32%
11	Signed/shown documents written in Hebrew	91	29%
12	Solitary confinement	38	12%

The testimonies reveal that most children are arrested from villages located close to friction points, namely settlements built in violation of international law, and roads used by the Israeli army or settlers. The report includes 10 recommendations, which if implemented, would reduce the level of ill-treatment, but no one should be under any illusion that the treatment documented in the report can be eliminated so long as the friction points remain and Palestinian children are treated as second-class individuals.

The full report is available on line, and hard copies are available on request.