[child-rights] Collective punishment in practice: Malnutrition rates among Palestinian children

For immediate release
7 August 2002

ref: 0020/02

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT IN PRACTICE:
Malnutrition Rates Among Palestinian Children Under 5 Reach Emergency Levels

A recently released USAID funded nutritional assessment indicates that
acute and chronic malnutrition rates of Palestinian children under 5 have
reached disastrous levels, with 13.2% suffering from emergency levels of
chronic malnutrition (stunted growth) and 1/5 suffering moderate and/or
severe anemia. The study, designed by Johns Hopkins University's School of
Public Health, and carried out in conjunction with Al-Quds University and
Global Management Consulting Group, surveyed nutrition levels, availability
of food in the market and household consumption, and found that the factors
affecting the dangerous rise in malnutrition directly relates to Israeli
imposed roadblocks, closures and curfews and the dismal economic situation
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Major food shortages were caused primarily by Israeli imposed closures,
checkpoints, and curfews, while the economic situation and subsequent loss
in purchasing power was the main factor inhibiting people's ability to buy
food. Fifty-six percent of surveyed families indicated that they had been
forced to decrease the amount of food consumed for more than one day in the
previous two week period. Of those, 2/3 cited lack of money and 1/3 cited
Israeli imposed curfews and closures as the reason. The study found that
36.6% of Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip lack the
purchasing power to consistently feed their families. Families affected
were highest in Gaza City, where 41.3% of families reported selling assets
to buy food.

According to the nutritional assessment, Palestinian wholesalers and
retailers are facing difficulty getting food into the market, particularly
fresh meat and dairy products (powdered milk, infant formula). Once they
do, many families are either unable to reach the store, due to Israeli
imposed restrictions on freedom of movement, or they cannot afford to buy
adequate food, both in terms of quality and quantity. The lack of
purchasing power has forced Palestinians to buy less of more expensive high
protein foods, such as fish, beef, and chicken. Lack of protein is one of
the direct causes of malnutrition and anemia.

This situation is not the result of a natural disaster or a lack of natural
resources, it is a result of Israeli government sanctioned policies of
collective punishment, implemented by an occupying power against civilians.
Israel imposes restrictions on freedom of movement, Palestinians lose their
jobs inside Israel or can no longer reach their places of work in the
occupied territories, and their level of income decreases. As of December
2001, unemployment had reached 35% in the occupied territories according to
the World Bank. Figures released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics (PCBS) in April 2002 indicate that in the first two months of
the year 2002 more than two-thirds of Palestinian households were living
below the poverty line set at US$ 340/month(less than $1.90/day). PCBS also
reports that more than half of Palestinian households have lost more than
50% of their income since September 2000.

These policies are part and parcel of the Israeli occupation, an occupation
that has resulted in gross and systematic violations of Palestinian human
rights for 35 years. What the nutrition assessment illustrates clearly is
that the Israeli occupation is more than a soldier with a gun  it is a
system of control that impacts every aspect of the lives of three million
Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 53% of whom are
children.

DCI/PS stresses that this economic war against Palestinian children and
resulting malnutrition is a direct violation of Israel's responsibilities
under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that entered into
force in 1991 following Israel's ratification of the CRC. Article 27,
paragraph 1, of the CRC recognizes, "the right of every child to a
standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual,
moral and social development." Paragraph 2 of the same article indicates
that the "primary responsibility" for this well being lies in the hands of
parents. The systematic destruction of the Palestinian economy thus
violates the CRC, article 27, paragraph 3 that states, "States Parties"
shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible
for the child to implement this right.

Moreover, article 6, paragraph 2 requires States Parties to "ensure to the
maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child," and
article 24, paragraph 1,  notes that "States Parties recognize the right of
the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health"
In subjecting Palestinian children to policies of collective punishment,
the Israeli government is violating article 2, paragraph 2 of the CRC,
which states that "States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to
ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or
punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or
beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members."

Israeli actions are having a similarly devastating impact on other areas
related to children's well being. The Israeli government repeatedly asserts
that it is not targeting the Palestinian civilian population, but you
cannot implement policies such as these without bringing a society to its
knees, and you certainly cannot do it for two years and claim that the
results are unintended.

The reality for Palestinian children is that they live in an environment
where they suffer collective and simultaneous violations of their rights at
all times. Israeli occupation policies simultaneously prevent Palestinian
children from receiving adequate nutrition, interrupt the educational
process, deprive children of homes, parents and siblings, lead to the
death, injury, and arrest of thousands of Palestinian children, and
imprison hundreds of thousands of children in their homes for days on end,
under the policy of curfew.  These factors not only impact the child's
daily life, they constitute a major obstacle to the child's healthy
development, and, thus, robs the child of prospects for a bright future.

The USAID study pointed out in its conclusion that "(t)oday's acute
malnutrition (an easily reversible state) will be tomorrow's chronic
malnutrition (less easily reversible), adding to already unacceptably high
rates of malnutrition, unless a variety of interventions  economic,
political and health related  take place."

On August 5, the UN General Assembly, convened for a meeting of the 10th
Emergency Session to consider illegal Israeli actions in occupied East
Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian Territory, passed yet
another watered-down resolution calling for an end to the violence on both
sides. However, another resolution is not what is called for, but rather
concrete action on the part of the international community to intervene to
end the Israeli occupation.

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