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<h2><font size=4><b>Women imprisoned – Addameer Prisoner Support and
Human Rights Association</b></font></h2><font size=2>By
<a href="http://palestinethinktank.com/author/guest-post/">Guest Post</a>
• Mar 10th, 2010 at 16:13 • </font><font size=3> <br><br>
8 March 2010<b> <br><br>
</b>Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association marks
International Women’s Day 2010 by honoring, commemorating and saluting
Palestinian women political prisoners and detainees in their steadfast
resistance against Israeli colonial occupation and struggle towards
securing the right of Palestinians to self-determination.<br><br>
An estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested and detained
since 1967 under Israeli military orders, which govern nearly every
aspect of life in the occupied Palestinian territory today, including
more than 750 Palestinian women arrested by Israel between the years
2000-2009. While the call to end violence and arbitrary detention against
women around the world should take place 365 days a year, Addameer would
like to take a moment today to reflect upon and recognize the plight of
Palestinian women and their unique experiences of colonial violence
within Israel’s prison system and unlawful regime of colonial
occupation.<br><br>
As of March 2010, there remain 34 Palestinian women held in Israel’s
prisons and detention centers, including three women held under
administrative detention, eight women held pending trial and 23 women
serving a sentence of imprisonment, of whom five are serving life
(including multiple life) sentences. Both of the prisons that hold the
majority of Palestinian female detainees, HaSharon and Damon Prisons, are
located outside the 1967 occupied territory, in direct contravention of
Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that, as an
Occupying Power, Israel must detain residents of the occupied territory
in prisons inside the occupied territory. The practical consequence of
this unlawful transfer is that many prisoners have difficulty meeting
with their Palestinian defense counsel and do not receive family visits
as their attorneys and relatives are most often denied permits on
“security grounds” not disclosed to them.<br><br>
In addition, both HaSharon and Damon Prisons lack a gender-sensitive
approach and, as such, female prisoners detained there suffer from harsh
imprisonment conditions and interlocking systems of oppression which are
enacted through medical negligence, denial of education, denial of family
visits, solitary confinement, and overcrowded cells. A majority of these
cells are infested with insects, dirty, and lack adequate ventilation and
natural light. Personal health and hygiene needs are rarely addressed by
the Israeli Prison Service, even in cases involving the detention of
pregnant female detainees.<br>
<br>
Other forms of abuse perpetrated against Palestinian women detainees and
prisoners include numerous forms of sexual harassment, namely: threats of
rape (in some cases threats of rape are made towards the detainee’s
family members), sexually degrading insults, and invasive body/strip
searches used as a method of punishment. These occurrences are a
fundamental part of Palestinian women’s prison experiences and should be
understood as a common and systematic form of racial and gendered State
violence.<br><br>
Moreover, research has shown that Israel’s prison authorities use these
forms of sexual harassment to deliberately exploit Palestinian women’s
fears by playing on patriarchal norms as well as gender stereotypes
within particular customs of Palestinian society. Accordingly,
occurrences of sexual harassment are a sensitive issue for Palestinian
women and their families; this vulnerability makes these measures
especially effective tools for interrogators, and is compounded by the
lack of available post-assault resources.<br><br>
Addameer submits that Israel’s routine practice of strip searching female
prisoners and detainees as a method of punishment violates both
international human rights and humanitarian law, including the UN
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, as well as the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, which stipulates in Article 7 that: “No one shall
be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment…”. Similarly, Article 3(1)(c) of the Fourth Geneva Convention
(1949) forbids“outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating
and degrading treatment”. <br><br>
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association condemns the use
of all measures of abuse Israeli actors use against female prisoners and
detainees, and calls for the immediate release of all Palestinian
political prisoners held unlawfully outside the occupied Palestinian
territory. Addameer further calls for an immediate stop to Israel’s
practices of sexual violence, including strip searches and invasive body
searches, shackling of pregnant women during labor, and use of threats
and/or other forms of sexual assault. In addition, Israeli authorities,
in particular the Prison Service, must meet their obligations under the
UN Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and ensure that
all subjects under Israeli jurisdiction are granted their full rights to
formal education for girls under the age of 18, (including access to
books and study materials inside the prisons), nutritional diet programs,
especially for pregnant detainees, health care including specialized
gynecological services, hospital/doctor visits when required, dental
care, and open family visits (especially for mothers of minors). Of
particular importance, Addameer demands that female prisoners and
detainees be provided unhindered access to religious, cultural and gender
sensitive social services, including trained Arabic-speaking women
specialist in the field of social work, psychology and counseling. It is
important to note that these rights and services must be administered
only by Palestinians; as such, the Israeli authorities and the Israel
Prison Service must grant full, unhindered access to Palestinian programs
and service providers in this regard.<br><br>
On International Women's Day 2010, Addameer stands in solidarity with
Palestinian political prisoners and detainees who remain strong in their
resistance against Israel’s colonial occupation regime, and asks the
international community for its continued support and solidarity all year
round.<br><br>
For more information on female prisoners, please visit:
<a href="http://www.addameer.info/">www.addameer.info</a> or
contact:<br><br>
<br>
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association<br>
PO Box 17338, Jerusalem<br>
Tel: +972 (0)2 296 0446<br>
Fax: +972 (0)2 296 0447<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:info@addameer.ps">info@addameer.ps</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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