[child-rights] Palestinian Child Rights' Day, April 5 2003

For release 05/04/03
Reference 005

PRESS RELEASE: PALESTINIAN CHILD RIGHTS' DAY, APRIL 5 2003
AN OVERVIEW OF RIGHTS VIOLATIONS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE INTIFADA


DCI DOCUMENTED CASES, SEPTEMBER 2001-MARCH 2003

-	424 CHILDREN HAVE BEEN KILLED
-	OVER 9000 CHILDREN HAVE BEEN INJURED
-	OVER 1,400 CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ARRESTED
-	OVER 150 SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN SHELLED OR ATTACKED

There are about 1.7 million Palestinian children living in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip today, accounting for 53% of the total Palestinian
population. Nearly all of these children have suffered at least one
violation of their rights in their short lives, even more so since the
beginning of the Intifada. These violations vary from harassment and
restrictions on daily movement to the loss of opportunities through
education and poverty to the loss of life.

Israel has a commendable record of signing up to human rights legislation
and is known as a democratic state. Unfortunately, the reality falls short
of these universal standards, particularly regarding their treatment of the
occupied Palestinian people. News coverage of these violations is
widespread, but serious action is not. The international community should
meet its responsibility to enforce these norms when states transgress.
DCI/PS urges the international community to start this action today,
Palestinian Children's Day.



TRENDS

There have been steep increases in the number of child deaths and child
arrests since the beginning of the Intifada. These are part of a rising
trend in the violation of all child rights due to Israeli brutality when
dealing with Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

The escalation in Israeli violence and the careless attitude to the rights
of occupied peoples and children as laid out under international law, have
led to a situation where child rights are being violated on a daily basis.
Children's lives have been put at risk, they have been denied their rights
to liberty and education and as a result they have lost their childhood,
their security and have become traumatized.

The Israeli army does not differentiate between adults and children in any
case, leading to situations in which the most innocent in the society,
children are being targeted and are being deprived of their basic human
rights.  Over the year 2002, the number of children being killed during
Israeli and Palestinian clashes has decreased tremendously (down  15.6% in
2002), while the number of child deaths increased dramatically, reaching
192, mostly due to unilateral actions by Israel troops. Most child deaths
occurred in circumstances of heavy shelling, air or ground attacks and
during assassination attempts.

Operation Defense Shield, the invasion into A areas during March-April
2002, led to the highest numbers of child deaths since the beginning of the
Intifada (37% of total child deaths in 2002 or 71 out of 192, occurred in
this one and a half months), as well as very high numbers in child arrests.

This high number refutes official Israeli explanations of the violence
against children being collateral damage or 'unfortunate accidents'. Rather
it shows their carelessness regarding children's rights.

Moreover, the violations in the daily lives of Palestinian children, while
going to school, playing outside or even inside their houses, are seriously
worrying. In 2002, 850 schools had to close for about 22 days and many more
were attacked, temporarily taken over or destroyed. Poverty and
malnourishment increased threefold compared to the beginning of the
Intifada, due to the impact of closures and curfews on the Palestinian
economy. Hence, nearly all Palestinian children have been deprived of their
most basic rights, such as the right to education and an adequate standard
of living.
The protection of child rights, even in their most basic form, is
absolutely necessary and vital in this worsening situation. The number of
violations is increasing all the time, and this requires immediate
condemnation and action by the international community and conscientious
Israeli citizens.


-END-

For more information please contact DCI at +972-2-22407530 or at
dcipal@palnet.com


Defence for Children International/Palestine Section
is an independent, Palestinian non-governmental
organization, established in 1992 to promote and
protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated
in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well
as in other international instruments.

DCI/PS, P.O. Box 55201, Jerusalem
Tel:	  +972 2 240 7530
Fax:	  +972 2 240 7018
(Note: please try and use +970, if the above country code does not work)
Email:	  dcipal@palnet.com
Website: 	http://www.dci-pal.org