An Israeli human rights organization has accused the country of torturing Palestinian minors, with reported cases of public caging as well as threats and acts of sexual violence.<\/i><\/p>\n
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) condemned Israel\u2019s failure to protect Palestinian minors from the alleged torture. The group demanded authorities introduce specific provisions for the protection of all children against torture in Israeli domestic law.<\/p>\n
The human rights group states that international law against torture, as outlined in the Istanbul Protocol Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture, is not reflected by Israel\u2019s domestic legislature.<\/p>\n
PCATI argues that \u201ctorture is a means of attacking an individual\u2019s fundamental modes of psychological and social functioning\u201d<\/i> as described in the Istanbul Protocol. Furthermore, \u201ctorture can impact a child directly or indirectly. The impact can be due to the child\u2019s having been tortured or detained, the torture of parents or close family members or witnessing torture and violence.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
The group\u2019s report was published ahead of Tuesday’s hearing by the Knesset’s Public Petitions Committee on related issues. PACTI based their complaint on data from filed reports of abuses against children collected over the past decade.<\/p>\n
The practice of placing the children in outdoor cages was stopped once Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni intervened following the discovery, the Jerusalem Post reports.<\/p>\n
PCATI states that it continues to actively investigate cases concerning children’s torture and ill treatment by IDF soldiers and interrogators. They are investigating threats and acts of sexual violence, caging prisoners in iron cages (including children), military conduct during detentions and arrests of Palestinians. Their collected data is also supported by a number of NGO\u2019s also involved in documentation of torture allegations.<\/p>\n
According to the Israeli Public Defender’s Office, knowledge of people being kept in iron cages surfaced during a night-time inspection of a prison at the height of a recent winter storm. Children were found kept outside in freezing temperatures for hours overnight following their arrest, and until they faced court charges the following morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring our visit, held during a fierce storm that hit the state, attorneys met detainees who described to them a shocking picture: in the middle of the night dozens of detainees were transferred to the external iron cages built outside the IPS transition facility in Ramla,\u201d<\/i> the Public Defender’s Office wrote on its website.<\/p>\n
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