[Pnews] Arrests of Children in Jerusalem: Detention, Education, Financial Strains and Social Burdens
Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Tue Jun 6 16:25:33 EDT 2017
http://www.addameer.org/publications/arrests-children-jerusalem-detention-education-financial-strains-and-social-burdens
Arrests of Children in Jerusalem: Detention, Education, Financial
Strains and Social Burdens
June 6, 2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Currently, an estimated 75 Palestinian children from East Jerusalem are
being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Based on Addameer’s
monitoring of 9 recent and current cases of Palestinian children from
Jerusalem from the onset of 2017 who were arrested and, as well as
exhaustive Addameer statistics and data from several years of monitoring
and legal representation in Jerusalem, this factsheet will explore the
effects of arrest and house arrest on a child’s education and
development. The factsheet relies on information obtained through visit
questionnaires, field visits, and court protocols.
The trends and data are based on 2015-2016 affidavits taken from
Palestinian children from Jerusalem who experienced arrest by Israeli
forces and were taken to Beit Alyaho Police Center, Oz police center,
Salah Al-Din police station, and Qishleh police center, as well as
Al-Moscobiyeh. Interrogation within these centers focused on confessions
obtained through coercive methods, including physical violence, in the
absence of their parents and attorneys. Despite the fact that the
interrogation lasted for a few hours in some cases, some of the children
were subjected to intense interrogation methods, slaps, beatings,
kicking, and being cuffed by hands and legs to the chair. This factsheet
aims to examine the aftermath, namely the policy of house arrest and the
post-detention experience.
*Legalities: No Last Resort for Palestinian Children in Jerusalem*
The Convention on the Rights of the Child underlines in Article 27(b)
that “No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or
arbitrarily.”[1] The article further underlines that in the case of
arrest, “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in
conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last
resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time”.[2]
The Convention states in Article 2 the principle of best interest of the
child, underlining that “in all actions concerning children, whether
undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of
law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best
interests of the child shall be the primary consideration.”[3] These
best interests undoubtedly involve treating the children with dignity,
freedom from cruel and degrading punishment, the ability to grow,
especially through social development, and the pursuit of their education.
The central Israeli legislation that addresses the arrest and detention
of children in Jerusalem is the Trial, Punishment and Modes of Treatment
Law, 5731-1971 and namely Amendment 14, which took effect in 2009. While
the amendment emphasizes the principle of arrest of children only as a
last resort, in practice, Palestinian children are not afforded this
principle, with systematic arrests and associated discriminatory
practices being maintained as the norm. Palestinian children, for
example, are more likely to be arrested than Israeli children, and when
arrested, are more likely to be held under interrogation without access
to their attorneys and parents. Defense for Children International –
Palestine has observed through documentation that, “Israeli authorities
implement the law in a discriminatory manner, denying Palestinian
children in East Jerusalem of their rights from the moment of arrest to
the end of legal proceedings.”[4]
*Effects on Psychology, Development, and Education*
/“The minute of arrest in the early mornings at homes is the most
fearful experience they went through so far in their lives, because they
are waking them up while they are asleep, taking them from their
bedrooms, their bed, handcuffing them, blind folding them in front of
their parents…who are supposed to represent the protective [figures]....”/
- Nader Abu-Amsheh of the East Jerusalem YMCA Children
Ex-Detainee Rehabilitation Program[5]
Addameer research has confirmed that traumatic experiences of arrest and
associated ill treatment result in symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD), as well as disorientation, loss of control of self
determination, and low self esteem.[6] Due to the severe trauma
resulting from interrogation and the associated feelings of being left
behind from their peers, it has been observed that many ex-detainee
children drop out of school.
It has been found that PTSD associated with the experience of arrest
“adversely affect any future pursuit of education and are considered a
major cause of former Palestinian child prisoners’ reluctance to return
to school.”[7] It has also been noted by Addameer that, “in addition to
the ill-treatment and torture suffered by Palestinian children during
the process of arrest, interrogation and detention, their social capital
is also squandered as result of detention, negatively impacting their
ability to grow into a valuable and autonomous individual.”[8]
Ultimately, this social regression inherently hinders empowerment,
competence, and self-determination – factors crucial to a healthy
growing environment for children.
*Cases Monitored: Financial and Educational Losses*
/“In virtually all of the cases, the children would have the problem
even after the child goes back to school in focusing because their
education was obstructed for a significant period…. Ultimately they lose
years or do not go back to school … the child is in school, leaves
school for a while, does not want to go back.” /
- Radi Darwish, Attorney monitoring child detention in Jerusalem
The educational costs of arrests and detention are profound. The
children whose cases were surveyed lost periods ranging from 3 months,
one semester, and one year of school, and two of the children chose not
to return to school. Notably, three of these children missed a full year
of school as a result of their arrest and house arrest. Extension of
detention ranged from 1 day to 60 days (including after charges were
submitted). A 16-year-old child, who was arrested from his home on 1
November 2015 in East Jerusalem and taken to Ofek Prison, was released
conditionally on house arrest for 12 months. He was convicted of
throwing stones on a light rail tram and sentenced to 138 days in public
service. He lost a semester of school as a result of the house arrest
(case no. 3).
In addition to the impact on education, the children’s families were
also compelled to pay financial guarantees that ranged from 2500 and
5000 NIS (equivalent of approximately 700 and 1400 USD). However, the
family of one child (case no. 2) was required to pay a financial
guarantee of 2500 NIS as a condition of her release on house arrest in
Beit Naqqouba and then subsequently 4000 NIS when the house arrest was
transferred to Jabal Al-Mukkaber, totaling 6500 NIS. The indictment
against her was submitted but no verdict ruling has been issued to date.
A female 16-year-old child was arrested on 15 February 2016 from Salah
Al-Din Street after being beaten by Israeli forces. She was placed under
house arrest under the condition of temporary residency away from her
home. She was detained for 60 days and then placed under house arrest
with residency assignment in Beit Naqqouba village for approximately 10
months, the house arrest then continued in Jabal Al-Mukkaber. Her family
was ordered to pay a financial guarantee of 2500 NIS during the house
arrest in Beit Naqqouba and 4000 NIS when the house arrest was
transferred to Jabal Al-Mukkaber. Indictment against her was submitted
but no verdict ruling has been issued to date.
Case no.
Place of arrest
Legal status
Financial Guarantees
Charges/Related Offense
1
Salah Al-Din Street
House Arrest until 3/1/2017; he was allowed to attend school but to be
accompanied by family
Financial Guarantee of 5000 NIS
Throwing stones at a police car
2
Salah Al-Din Street, she was beaten by the soldiers when she was arrested
She was detained for 60 days, released to be under house arrest with
deportation to Beit Naqqouba village for approximately 10 months, and
then the house arrest continued in Jabal Al- Mukkaber
Financial Guarantee of 2500 NIS during the house arrest in Beit Naqqouba
and 4000 NIS when the house arrest was transfered to Jabal Al-Mukkaber
Possession of a knife
3
From home in Shuafat
Interrogation was extended and then he was released but under condition
of house arrest for 12 months
He was convicted and sentenced to 138 days in public service
Throwing stones on the Light Rail
4
After summon for interrogation
House arrest starting from the date of release on 22/9/2016 where he was
placed in assigned residency in a relative’s home in Shuafat Refugee Camp
Convicted and fined a Guarantee of 5000 NIS
Throwing stones
5
After summon for interrogation
Detained for 29 days and house arrest until 2/9/2016.
Throwing stones on the Light Rail
6
From home
Interrogated for 3 days and placed under house arrest for 14 days.
Financial Guarantee of 3000 NIS and no indictment was presented until
the date of interview
No charge sheet was presented
7
After summon for interrogation in Nevi Yacob
He was detained for 30 days, under house arrest for 9 months, the
partial house- arrest is still valid until now.
Financial Guarantee of 5000 NIS; an indictment was submitted
Throwing stones on the Light Rail
8
From the Old City- Bab Al-Majlis
Interrogation for 7 days and house arrest for 7 months
Financial Guarantee of 3000 NIS; an indictment was presented
Possession a knife
9
After summons for interrogation
Interrogation for only one day and released because of his age on
condition of house arrest
Financial Guarantee of 5000 NIS
Throwing empty glass bottles
According to Murad Amro, Clinical Psychologist at the Palestinian
Counseling Center, house arrest impacts the child’s relationships,
including those with their parents. It results in anxiety, feelings of
helplessness, as well as psychosomatic symptoms of bodily pain. Amro
explains that “the experience impacts their ability to maintain
self-regulation and self-mastery, essential for psychological and social
processes... It causes changes in dynamics of family relationships, and
affects self-concept and self-esteem.”[9] Amro explains that the
associated reluctance to go back to school may be a form of rebellion
and a cry of helplessness, as a result of “not being able to feel safe
and not having their expectations of protection fulfilled. It may be
that they are trying to resist being in a social system that does not
give them protection.”
Notably, Palestinian children in Jerusalem are sometimes placed in
assigned residency as a term of their house arrest. For example, in
case no. 7, a 16-year-old Palestinian child from Shuafat, who was
arrested on 11/10/2015, was placed under house arrest for 60 days in
Beit Hanina. In case no. 2, a female child from Jabal Al-Mukkaber who
was arrested on 2/15/2016 was placed under house arrest in Beit
Naqqouba. In case no. 4, a 17-year-old male child from Al-Tour who was
arrested on 8/3/2016 was placed under house arrest in Shuafat refugee
camp in an assigned residency with a relative. The impact of these
particular house arrests is that they remove the child from their
surroundings and environment to the child’s detriment.
According to Clinical Psychologist Murad Amro, these types of assigned
residency situations may have profound impacts. Amro explains, “this is
a particularly stressful factor for the family and the child to manage
this period of separation and to support the child during this
situation. Guilt-feeling and blaming are very important here, for the
child and the parents. The child will be blaming the family for not
being able to protect the child…arrest makes the child feel guilty, loss
of locus of control.”[10]
Case no.
Gender
Age
Date of arrest
Residential address
Address of house arrest
Prison or Detention center
*1*
M
16
9/14/2016
Old City- Saadiya Quarter
Old City - Saadiya Quarter
Al-Moscobiyeh (Russian Compound)
*2*
F
16
2/15/2016
Jabal Al- Mukkaber
Beit Naqqouba
Hasharon
*3*
M
16
11/1/2015
Shuafat
Shuafat
Ofek
*4*
M
17
8/3/2016
Al-Tour
Shuafat refugee camp
Al-Moscobiyeh (Russian Compound)
*5*
M
16
11/4/2015
Shuafat
Shuafat
Al-Moscobiyeh (Russian Compound)
*6*
M
14
2/16/2017
Al-Issawiya
Al-Issawiya
Al-Moscobiyeh (Russian Compound)
*7*
M
16
11/10/2015
Shuafat
Beit Hanina
Al-Moscobiyeh (Russian Compound)
*8*
F
17
5/4/2016
Al-Issawiya
Al-Issawiya
Hasharon
*9*
M
15
10/28/2015
Silwan
Silwan
Al-Moscobiyeh (Russian Compound)
*Conclusion: Obstructing Development and Education*
The continued policy of arrests of Palestinian children in Jerusalem
contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child in its use not as
a last resort as stated in article 37 of the Convention. The associated
disruption of education and social development unarguably violate the
best interests of the child. The policy also breaches the State’s
responsibility to make primary and secondary education accessible to the
children (article 28). Furthermore, the Convention affirms, “in all
actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private
social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities
or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a
primary consideration.” The practice of arrest and detention of
Palestinian children in Jerusalem may be seen as a larger policy of
repression and disruption of a population, resulting in the obstruction
of social development, the impeding of education, associated financial
burdens, and sometimes, relocation outside of his or her home
environment in assigned residency.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20
November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 3, available
at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b38f0.html [accessed 29 May 2017]
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Defense for Children International, 11 August 2016. “New Israeli Law
allows Children as Young as 12 to be Jailed”
http://nwttac.dci-palestine.org/new_israeli_law_allows_children_as_young_as_12_to_be_jailed
[5] Nader Abu Amsheh, interviewed by Bill Skidmore. Beit Sahour, 3
January 2015. Interviewed for “In the Shadow of the 2014 Gaza War:
Imprisonment of Jerusalem’s Children,” Addameer, 2016. Available at
http://www.addameer.org/sites/default/files/publications/imprisonment_of...
<http://www.addameer.org/sites/default/files/publications/imprisonment_of_jerusalems_children_2016.pdf>
[6] Addameer, 2010. “The Right of Child Prisoners to Education”.
Available at
http://www.addameer.org/sites/default/files/publications/addameer-report-the-right-of-child-prisoners-to-education-october-2010-en.pdf
[7]Ibid, 11.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Interview with Addameer on 30 May 2017. Ramallah.
[10] Ibid.
--
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