MAARIJ Foundation for Peace and Development ITEM7 ~ Human Rights situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory

Mr. President, Thank you for giving us the floor. In addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states in. Article 9 that ''No one shall be arbitrarily arrested, detained or exiled" and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, paragraph 1 of Article 9, which states that "Everyone has the right to liberty" and "no one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention" the Convention on children's rights, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989, further stipulates in its Article 7 paragraph b, the prohibition of arbitrary detention of a child for any reason. Yet every day the Israeli occupation forces take Palestinian children from · their homes, often at night, to transfer them handcuffed and blindfolded to interrogation centres, where they suffer physical and psychological torture. These children are deprived of sleep while bound in uncomfortable positions, often beaten and threatened with sexual a~use and reprisals on their families. Furthermore, these Palestinian children are denied access to parents or a lawyer for weeks, and instead hauled before Israeli military courts and imprisoned for long terms while still at a tender age. Need we recall that the Geneva Conventions expressly prohibit any occupying power from transferring any part of a subjugated population outside an occupied territory? The arbitrary detention of children is not only illegal and immoral but deserves condemnation and further action from the Committee for Children's Rights and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
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Thank you Mr. President