EU Parliament reviews prison conditions inside Israel

On 25 October 2010, the EU Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Human Rights will review prison conditions in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In advance of the hearing, DCI-Palestine has lodged a submission relating to conditions faced by Palestinian child detainees held in Israeli interrogation and detention facilities and prisons.

DCI-Palestine’s submission to the Sub-Committee provides evidence of ill-treatment and torture during the initial stages of detention, and also includes:

* Information that 58 percent of Palestinian child detainees are being held inside Israel, in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention;
* Information indicating that as many as 42.5 percent of child detainees are not adequately separated from adult prisoners;
* Evidence that 55 percent of Palestinian child detainees complain of inadequate food, water or shelter;
* Information suggesting that most Palestinian child detainees do not receive family visits during the first three months of their detention, and no Palestinian child detainees are permitted to maintain telephone communication with their families;
* Evidence that Palestinian child detainees receive inadequate education services inside prison, and in some cases, no education at all; and
* Evidence that children held in the Al Jalame Interrogation and Detention Centre near Haifa, are routinely subjected to serious mistreatment, including position abuse, sleep depravation and solitary confinement.

DCI-Palestine continues to demand that all interrogations of Palestinian child detainees be audio-visually recorded, and no Palestinian child is detained inside Israel, in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.