This report compares the treatment of Palestinian child detainees in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to both Jewish settler detainees that live in the same territory and Canadian child detainees. In doing so, this analysis exposes the disparity in the way that Palestinian children are treated, as part of Israel’s system of apartheid and state-sponsored violence. At the end, several recommendations for the Canadian government to take to protect the rights of Palestinian Children are provided.

Issued June 14, 2023

Click here to download the full report as a PDF

Executive Summary

Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) face significant infringements on their human rights and freedoms. In 2022 alone, Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 36 Palestinian children with live ammunition in the West Bank, and Israeli airstrikes killed at least 8 children in the Gaza Strip.[1] In the first five months of 2023, at least 24 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces, and there are at least five reported cases in which Israeli soldiers used Palestinian children as human shields.[2] As this report was being finalized, a two-year-old Palestinian child succumbed to his wounds after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in the town of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank.[3]

This report focuses on one major aspect of this problem: the systematic ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank who are routinely and disproportionately detained by Israeli forces and prosecuted in military courts. On average, Israel detains 500-700 Palestinian children in the OPT each year, who face systemic violations including torture, house arrests, solitary confinement, and administrative detention.

In particular, this report highlights this systematic ill-treatment by offering a comparative view of how Palestinian child detainees in the West Bank are treated when compared to both Jewish settler detainees in the same territory and child detainees in Canada. Some of the key distinctions include:

1. In Canada, detainees have the right to have a guardian and/or lawyer present during interrogation, whereas under Israeli military law, Palestinian children have no right to have a guardian present during their interrogation and are almost universally denied access to legal counsel prior to and during interrogation.
2. In Canada, any statement made by a young person is only admissible if it was made voluntarily and with a full understanding of the consequences, whereas Palestinian children under Israeli military law are frequently subject to mental and physical coercion with the intent of forcing confessions.
3. In both Canada and under Israeli military law, child detainees are supposed to have access to an interpreter. However, in the occupied West Bank, military court proceedings are conducted in Hebrew without adequate interpretation, and children are often forced to sign documents in Hebrew without any verbal or written translation.
4. In Canada, torture is strictly prohibited (though some reported cases exist), but Palestinian children under Israeli military law experience the widespread and systematic use of torture, including long periods of solitary confinement.
5. In Canada, incarceration of children is considered a last resort, whereas Israel’s military court system considers prison sentences the default sanction to punish Palestinian children.

This comparison exposes the disparity in the way that Palestinian children are treated, as part of Israel’s system of apartheid and state-sponsored violence against Palestinian children.

In 2018, a report by Members of Parliament who had visited Palestine on a fact-finding mission recommended the creation of a Special Envoy to “promote, monitor and report” on the human rights situation of children in the OPT. This demand has been adopted by grassroots activists and Members of Parliament (MPs) from several parties, who have petitioned the Canadian government to take up this demand. Despite these calls, Canada has not taken any action to uphold the rights of Palestinian children.

As a state party to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), Canada has obligations to ensure that Palestinian children in the OPT enjoy the protections afforded by international law. The report recommends the Canadian government take immediate action to uphold the rights of Palestinian children in Israel’s military court system, including:

• Canada must appoint a Special Envoy to promote, monitor and report on the human rights situation of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
• Canada must condemn Israel’s systemic abuses of Palestinian children, and demand an end to torture, house arrests, solitary confinement, administrative detention, and the prosecution of Palestinian children in military courts.
• Canada must accept and promote the findings of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child when it issues its forthcoming country-specific review on Israel.
• Canada must give its full support to the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes committed in the OPT, including crimes against children.
• Canada must condemn Israel’s campaign of persecution against advocates for Palestinian children and other detainees, especially Palestinian civil society organizations Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) and Addameer, which were unjustly criminalized by Israel in October 2021.^[4] Canada should do everything in its power to support and protect the work of these human rights defenders, including by making its diplomatic resources in Tel Aviv and Ramallah available to the targeted NGOs, should they request it.

Disclaimer: Please note that this report does not attempt to address broader flaws in the criminal justice systems in each country, and we do not claim that these systems are free from discrimination, abuse, or widespread injustices against certain communities. In fact, there is substantial and extensive evidence showing that the systems of both countries discriminate against Indigenous populations.[5] Rather, this report only takes a comparative view of the formal, legal discrepancy in how child detainees are treated in Canada vs. the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Background: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

In November 1989, the General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a comprehensive statement on children’s rights which is binding under international law.^[6] Since adoption, virtually all countries of the world,^[7] including Canada and Israel, have ratified the CRC,^[8] undertaking to ensure that all children within their respective jurisdictions, regardless of race, religion or other protected grounds, enjoy equality of opportunity, non-discrimination in the application of the law, and that the “best interests of the child” govern interactions between state institutions and the child.

Despite these legally binding commitments, Israel has institutionalized discriminatory laws, policies, and practices that disproportionality target Palestinians,^[9] and routinely subjects Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) to grave human rights abuses and the use of excessive, and disproportionate lethal force. ^[10] Israel continues to falsely argue that it does not have an obligation to comply with international human rights law (including the CRC) in the OPT, indicating that Israel has no interest in upholding international norms when it comes to its treatment of Palestinian children. Several UN bodies, including the International Court of Justice, have consistently rejected this argument and assert that Israel must apply both international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the OPT.^[11]

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, a UN body which monitors the implementation of the CRC by state parties, has confirmed that Palestinian children are “systematically subject to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture” and that Israel has “fully disregarded” previous recommendations to comply with international law.^[12]

Violations of the Rights of Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Detention

Israel is the only country in the world that routinely tries Palestinian children in military courts, even though the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has declared that “the conduct of criminal proceedings against children within the military justice system should be avoided.”^[13] Israel has maintained military courts in the territory it occupies since 1967, giving the Israeli military commander in the area full legislative, executive and judicial authority.^[14] Occupying powers can establish military court systems under international humanitarian law, provided that defendants are guaranteed basic safeguards to a fair trial. Although Israel introduced “juvenile” military courts in 2009 in response to criticism for prosecuting children as young as 12 in adult military courts, the system has failed to improve the safeguarding of minors’ rights in practice. The juvenile military courts use the same facilities and court staff as the adult military courts, although the CRC requires states to establish separate facilities for children deprived of their liberty and employ child-centred staff in so doing.^[15]

Israeli authorities automatically prosecute Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in the military court system, although Israeli Jewish settlers (and their children) in the same territory are tried in the Israeli civilian criminal justice system.  “No Israeli child comes into contact with the military courts” while Israel detains, interrogates, prosecutes, and imprisons between 500 and 700 Palestinian children in military courts each year.^[16]

Military courts “do not meet the standards of an independent and impartial tribunal”[17] and do not provide Palestinian children with fair trials and due process. The Israeli military court’s conviction rate is higher than 99 percent.^[18] Unlike in the Israeli civilian system, which provides that arrest and pre-conviction detention is used as a means of last resort, in the military system, pre-conviction detention is the rule, with exceptions being extremely rare.^[19] In 2015, for example, Israeli military courts in the occupied West Bank denied bail in 72% of cases involving Palestinian children, whereas Israeli civil courts, with jurisdiction over Israeli children, including settlers, denied bail in only 17.9% of cases.^[20] Under Israeli military courts, the jurisdiction of juvenile courts is limited to the trial phase, which means that remand hearings, bail applications, and hearings to determine if a child remains in detention pending trial, are handled by adult courts. In the vast majority of cases, Palestinian children are faced with either trying to fight charges while in detention or signing a plea deal. As a result, “almost all children plead guilty in order to reduce the length of their pre-trial detention.”^[21] According to Addameer, 160 Palestinian children remain in Israeli prisons as of June 8, 2023,^[22] most of whom are in pre-trial detention and who have not been convicted of any offense.^[23]

Israel’s program of systemic discrimination is evidenced by its unwarranted overuse of exceptions involving Palestinian child detainees, whereby the exceptions have become the rule. According to the CRC, arrest, detention, and imprisonment of children must be a measure of last resort, to be used only in the absence of other viable alternatives. Israel’s Military Order 1651 (Order Regarding Security Provisions) is the key law governing the arrest and detention of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank. Under this military order, all soldiers and police officers are empowered to arrest any person (including children) without a warrant, if they suspect a “security offense” under military law has been committed. The majority of children prosecuted in the military courts are charged with throwing stones, a criminal offence targeted at Palestinians, and carrying a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.^[24]

With no requirement to issue warrants, Palestinian children (including those accused of throwing stones) are routinely detained through a practice of surprise night raids, whereby heavily armed Israeli military soldiers arrive and forcefully enter the child’s home with no warning and arrest the child from their bed. Human Rights Watch has found that Israeli security forces “use unnecessary force against children during arrest, which takes place in the middle of the night, and physically abuse [Palestinian children] in custody.”^[25] Children “typically” arrive at interrogation “bound, blindfolded, frightened, and sleep-deprived” and “often give confessions after verbal abuse, threats, physical and psychological violence that in some cases amounts to torture.”^[26] Between 2016 and 2022, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) collected sworn affidavits from 766 child detainees; 59% were arrested at night, 79% experienced violence following their arrest, 89% were blindfolded and 80% were strip searched.^[27] 

In 2021, Israel announced a new procedure regarding the summoning of suspected minors before pre-planned arrest to allegedly safeguard the best interests of the child. However, this procedure has not been followed in practice. Out of 125 reported cases of children being arrested in the middle of the night in 2022, none of them received a summons before arrest.^[28]

For Palestinian child detainees, Israel’s military court system therefore amounts to “an inherently unjust system of control where arbitrary detention is the default practice.”[29]

Comparative Analysis: Canada and Israel’s Treatment of Child Detainees

The Legal Frameworks

In Canada, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) is the federal law that governs Canada’s youth justice system, applying to youth detainees aged 12 to 17. The YCJA includes a “Preamble” and a “Declaration of Principles” that express the values upon which the law is based and should be interpreted. Among these values, is the recognition that “young persons have special guarantees of their rights and freedoms, including those set out in the [CRC].” As such, principal priorities under the YCJA include: (i) ensuring measures are proportionate to the seriousness of an offence and the degree of responsibility of the young person, (ii) promoting rehabilitation and the reintegration of young persons, and (iii) supporting crime prevention by addressing circumstances underlying offending behaviours.^[30] In addition to the YCJA, Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which applies to any person in Canada, guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms, including equality rights and legal rights.

In Israel and the OPT, the legal system applicable to Palestinian children varies depending on where the child resides. Israeli military law, which applies to Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, is designed to advance the “security” interests of the occupying power and is not predicated on adapting criminal proceedings for the unique situation of minors. In other words, the system is designed to protect the occupation, not the children under its authority.

Key Distinctions

1. In Canada, suspects have the right to have a guardian and/or lawyer present during interrogation.^[31] Under Israeli military law, a Palestinian child’s guardian has no legal entitlement to be present during their child’s interrogation, although Israeli children in the Israeli civil legal system are generally granted this safeguard.^[32] Palestinian children have the right to consult with a lawyer prior to being interrogated, yet Palestinian children were denied access to legal counsel prior to interrogation in 97% of cases reported by DCIP.^[33] Palestinian child detainees do not have the right to lawyer presence during interrogations.
2. In Canada, any statement made by a young person is only admissible if it was made voluntarily and with a full understanding of the consequences.^[34] Conversely, Palestinian children are subject to Israeli military techniques that are “mentally and physically coercive, frequently incorporating a mix of intimidation, threats and physical violence with a clear purpose of obtaining a confession.”^[35] For example, interrogators have been reported to threaten to bulldoze the homes and arrest family members of Palestinian child detainees if they don’t confess to a particular accusation. Confessions are the central piece of evidence used to prosecute Palestinian children in military courts^[36] and most children confess at the end of the interrogation.^[37]
3. In both Canada and under Israeli military law, child detainees are supposed to have access to an interpreter. In the occupied West Bank, military court proceedings are conducted in Hebrew, a language most child detainees do not understand and “interpreters often fail to explain in a detailed and comprehensive manner what is occurring during proceedings.”^[38] Furthermore, in practice, children are often forced to sign documentation written in Hebrew (which can include incriminating statements and confessions) with no verbal or written translation provided to the child.^[39]
4. In Canada, every individual has the right to not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Under the Criminal Code (Canada), it is a criminal offence to inflict torture on any other person.^[40] There remain, however, reported instances of torture, including the use of solitary confinement for children in immigration detention.[41] In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian children face “widespread, systematic and institutionalized” ill-treatment (UNICEF)[42] and are “systematically subject to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture” (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child).[43] For example, Palestinian children can be held in solitary confinement “for a period ranging from two days up to one month before the court hearing as well as after sentencing.”[44] The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has found that solitary confinement, when “used intentionally during pretrial detention as a technique for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession” can amount to torture.^[45]
5. In Canada under the YCJA, custodial (i.e., prison) sentences should be used as a last resort and only when no other sanction would be appropriate to hold the young person accountable for their actions.^[46] In contrast, under Israel’s military court system, there are only two options in practice: to convict the minor or to acquit them. The issuance of a prison sentence is the default sanction employed to punish minors in military courts.^[47]

Canada’s Obligations under International Law

With respect to the Palestinian children under Israel’s administrative control, Canada has obligations under both the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).  

Fourth Geneva Convention

As a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV), Canada has an obligation (along with all other high contracting parties to the GCIV) to take action to ensure respect for the GCIV (Art. 1), and to ensure that Palestinian children in the OPT enjoy the protections afforded by the GCIV in all circumstances. The protections include both obligations for the care of detainees/internees, and obligations for the care of children:

• Accused persons must be informed, in writing, in a language they understand, of the particulars of the charges against them, and must be brought to trial as rapidly as possible (Article 71).
• Accused persons should have the right to be assisted by a qualified advocate or counsel of their own choice as well as an interpreter, both during preliminary investigation and during the hearing in court, including the right to object to the interpreter and to ask for their replacement (Article 72).
• Proper regard must be paid to the special treatment due to minors in serving prison sentences (Article 76).
• The use of physical or moral coercion against protected persons, including as a means to obtain information from them, is strictly prohibited (Article 31) along with the use of torture and corporal punishment (Article 32).

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Regarding the CRC, although both Canada and Israel are signatories to the CRC, the above analysis demonstrates there are significant differences in both countries’ treatment of child detainees and alarming deficiencies in the legal regime employed by Israel in the OPT. Canada cannot, in good conscience, purport to value and promote the respect of children’s rights within its own borders as a signatory to the CRC, while turning a blind eye to a “friendly” country which systematically subjects children living under military occupation to the use of disproportionate lethal force, in certain cases amounting to torture.

The Path Forward

Previous Advocacy from Civil Society and Parliamentarians

Since 2018, Canadian and international civil society has made numerous efforts to raise the issue of abuses faced by Palestinian children under occupation, while politicians from multiple parties have endorsed calls for action to address this problem. However, the Canadian government has not taken any steps to address the concerns of civil society relating to the rights of Palestinian children.

In the spring of 2018, a group of 18 Members of Parliament (MPs) from 5 political parties participated in a delegation to Palestine and Israel organized by the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group. During that meeting, they met with children’s advocates DCIP and a former child detainee.^[58] In the final report signed by most members of the delegation, the MPs recommended that the Canadian government should take “concrete steps” to increase “protections for Palestinian children,” including through the appointment of a “Special Envoy to promote, monitor and report on the human rights situation of Palestinian children living in the Palestinian territory.” The report recommended that the Special Envoy should specifically undertake “an evaluative analysis to Israeli military law and practice as they affect Palestinian children in the West Bank by reference to the standards of international law and international children’s rights.”^[59]

The same year, civil society groups hosted DCIP in an advocacy delegation to Parliament Hill to meet with politicians and discuss the No Way to Treat a Children Campaign (NWTTAC), which sought to build political opposition to the prosecution of Palestinian children in Israeli military courts.^[60] Over the course of the year, MPs from the Green Party, New Democratic Party, and Bloc Québécois all spoke out against Israel’s treatment of children.^[61] 

In July 2020, the United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel (UNJPPI) and CJPME launched a campaign^[62] in support of Parliamentary petition e-2667, which “call[ed] upon the Government of Canada to ensure the human rights of Palestinian children are protected by instructing a Special Envoy to promote, monitor and report on the human rights situation of Palestinian children living in the occupied Palestinian Territory and Gaza.”^[63] The petition was presented to parliament by Green MP Paul Manly on November 3, 2020.^[64] The government issued its response on January 25, 2021, noting that “Canadian officials continue to closely monitor the status of children’s rights in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza” but declining to commit to further action.^[65] A coalition of Canadians continues to be active on this issue under the banner of the “Canada, Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Rights Campaign.” The group has an active webpage highlighting its past actions and providing tools to help Canadians stay updated and involved on the issue of Palestinian children's rights.^[66]

In 2021, Just Peace Advocates launched a campaign in support of Parliamentary petition e-3312, which called “for an urgent study by the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to review Israel’s treatment of children in Israeli occupied Palestine and compliance with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.” The petition was presented to parliament by Liberal MP Salma Zahid on June 18, 2021.^[67]

The call for a special envoy was renewed by the New Democratic Party in 2022, when the NDP’s Heather McPherson asked another MP in Parliament if he would “stand with the NDP in calling for a special envoy for children in Palestine who are the victims of violence in Palestine?”^[68] The same year, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh issued a statement urging Canada to “condemn military detention of Palestinian children, and reaffirm support for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”^[69] 

Recommendations

CJPME urges the Canadian government take immediate action to uphold the rights of Palestinian children in Israel’s military court system, including:

• Canada must appoint a special envoy to promote, monitor and report on the human rights situation of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.^[70]
• Canada must condemn Israel’s systemic abuses of Palestinian children, and demand an end to torture, house arrests, solitary confinement, administrative detention, and the prosecution of Palestinian children in military courts.
• Canada must accept and promote the findings of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child when it issues its forthcoming country-specific review on Israel.
• Canada must give its full support to the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes committed in the OPT, including crimes against children.
• Canada must condemn Israel’s campaign of persecution against advocates for Palestinian children and other detainees, especially Palestinian civil society organizations Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) and Addameer, which were unjustly criminalized by Israel in October 2021.^[71] Canada should do everything in its power to support and protect the work of these human rights defenders, including by making its diplomatic resources in Tel Aviv and Ramallah available to the targeted NGOs, should they request it.

 

 

[1] Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), “Year-in-review: A deadly year for Palestinian children,” December 23, 2022, https://www.dci-palestine.org/year_in_review_2022 

[2] DCIP, “Israeli forces use five Palestinian children as human shields, May 18, 2023,” https://www.dci-palestine.org/israeli_forces_use_five_palestinian_children_as_human_shields

[3] Haaretz, “Palestinian Toddler Hit by Israeli Army Fire Dies of Wounds,” June 5, 2023, https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2023-06-05/ty-article/.premium/palestinian-toddler-hit-by-idf-fire-dies-of-his-wounds/00000188-8b48-d406-a1f9-eb5adea30000

[4] CJPME, “Israel’s Criminalization of Palestinian NGOs,” last updated January 12, 2023, https://www.cjpme.org/palestinian_ngos

[5] In Canada, the YCJA includes enhanced protections or considerations for “aboriginal” youth, but whether this is respected in practice is a different question. It is widely acknowledged, including by the Canadian government, that Indigenous youth are highly overrepresented in the criminal justice system and that this is a result of colonialism and racism. For example, see this resource from the Department of Justice, “Understanding the Overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Criminal Justice System,” https://www.justice.gc.ca/socjs-esjp/en/ind-aut/uo-cs. Within Israel, the discrimination that Palestinian citizens face has been widely documented by groups like Adalah: The Legal Centre for Minority Rights in Israel, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and the Mossawa Centre. The disparity in how Palestinian and Jewish Israeli citizens are treated by the courts can be acutely seen in Israel’s crackdown against May 2021 protests and street violence, both in terms of numbers of arrests and convictions and in the severity of punishment. See Baker Zoubi, “Who is paying the price for the violence of May 2021?” +972 Magazine, December 20, 2022, https://www.972mag.com/discrimination-jewish-arab-defendants/

[6] United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, “Background to the Convention” https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc/background-convention.

[7] 196 countries have become State Parties as of October 2015, making the Convention the most rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history.

[8] Israel has also ratified the Optional Protocol on involvement of children in armed conflict.

[9] Al-Haq, “Joint Parallel Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child for its List of Issues on Israel’s Third Periodic Report” (p. 3), November 15, 2022,  https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/2022/11/21/221115-joint-submission-to-the-crc-1669034220.pdf. (“Al Haq 2022”)

[10] Human Rights Watch, “Human Rights Watch Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Right of the Child Review of Israel 94^th Pre-session” (p. 2), November 2022, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2022/12/HRW submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child Review of Israel.pdf (“Human Rights Watch 2022”).

[11] DCIP, “No Way to Treat a Child” (p. 8), April 2016 https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/dcipalestine/pages/1527/attachments/original/1460665378/DCIP_NWTTAC_Report_Final_April_2016.pdf?1460665378 (“DCIP 2016”).

[12] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Concluding Observations on the Second to Fourth Periodic Reports of Israel” (p. 19), July. 4, 2013, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC-C-ISR-CO-2-4.pdf.

[13] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Concluding Observations: United States of America” (p. 7) , June 25, 2008, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC.C.OPAC.USA.CO.1.pdf.

[14] UNICEF, “Children in Israeli Military Detention: Observations and Recommendations”, (p. 6), February 2013, https://www.unicef.org/sop/media/1746/file/CAAC Bulletin 2013,.pdf (“UNICEF 2013”).

[15] Ibid.

[16] DCIP, “Military Detention,” n.d., https://www.dci-palestine.org/military_detention

[17] DCIP, “Israeli forces’ systemic denial of fair trial rights to Palestinian child prisoners amounts to arbitrary detention,” June 1, 2023, https://www.dci-palestine.org/israeli_forces_systemic_denial_of_fair_trial_rights_to_palestinian_child_prisoners_amounts_to_arbitrary_detention 

[18] Chaim Levinson, “Nearly 100% of All Military Court Cases in West Bank End in Conviction, Haaretz Learns,” Haaretz, November 29, 2011, https://www.haaretz.com/2011-11-29/ty-article/nearly-100-of-all-military-court-cases-in-west-bank-end-in-conviction-haaretz-learns/0000017f-e7c4-da9b-a1ff-efef7ad70000

[19] 972 Magazine, “In Israeli military courts, Palestinian minors always lose”, March 21, 2018,  https://www.972mag.com/in-israeli-military-courts-palestinian-minors-always-lose/.

[20] Human Rights Watch 2022 (p. 5).

[21] UNICEF 2013 (p. 13).

[22] Addameer, “Statistics”, https://www.addameer.org/statistics.

[23] Al Jazeera, “Infographic: How many Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel?”, April 17, 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/17/infographic-how-many-palestinians-are-imprisoned-by-israel.

[24] UNICEF 2013 (p. 9).

[25] Human Rights Watch 2022 (p. 5).

[26] DCIP, “Military Detention,” n.d., https://www.dci-palestine.org/military_detention

[27] DCIP, Fact Sheet: Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Detention, May 5, 2023, https://nwttac.dci-palestine.org/fact_sheet_palestinian_children_in_israeli_military_detention

[28] Hamoked, “On Flimsy Ground: Israel’s Pervasive Night Arrests of Palestinian Children” (p. 3), January 2023. https://hamoked.org/files/2023/1666020_eng.pdf.

[29] DCIP, “Arbitrary by Default: Palestinian Children in the Israeli Military Court System” (p. 3), May 2023, https://assets.nationbuilder.com/dcipalestine/pages/5323/attachments/original/1685539867/Arbitrary_by_Default.pdf

[30] Government of Canada, “The Youth Criminal Justice Act Summary and Background”, 2013 https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/tools-outils/back-hist.html.

[31] Youth Criminal Justice Act (Canada), Section 146(2)(b)(iii), (iv); (4) (“YCJA”).

[32] Human Rights Watch 2022 (p. 48).

[33] DCIP 2016 (p. 1).

[34] YCJA, Section 146(2); (7).

[35] DCIP 2016 (p. 3).

[36] Ibid (p. 41).

[37] UNICEF 2013 (p. 11).

[38] DCIP 2016 (p. 47).

[39] Ibid (p. 46).

[40] Criminal Code (Canada), Section 269.1.

[41] A study in 2016 found that Canada was using solitary confinement against children in the immigration detention system, including one Syrian asylum seeker held in solitary confinement for three weeks. See Ashifa Kassem, “Canada detains hundreds of children for immigration violations, report finds,” The Guardian, September 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/22/canada-children-detention-immigration-solitary-confinement. Morevoer, a 2021 report found that the Canadian government continued to use solitary confinement against adult inmates, amounting to torture, in violation of its own laws and international commitments. See Justin Ling, “Canada Is Torturing Inmates With Solitary Confinement, Report Finds,” Vice News, February 24, 2023, https://www.vice.com/en/article/93wj78/canada-is-torturing-inmates-with-solitary-confinement-study-says.

[42] UNICEF 2013 (p. 9).

[43] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Concluding Observations on the Second to Fourth Periodic Reports of Israel” (p. 19), July. 4, 2013, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC-C-ISR-CO-2-4.pdf.

[44] UNICEF 2013 (p. 12).

[45] DCIP 2016 (p. 71).

[46] YCJA, Section 38.

[47]  Atty. Limor Yehuda, Atty. Anne Suciu, Atty. Hagar Palgi-Hecker, Atty. Maskit Bendel, Atty. Raghad Jaraisy, Atty. Nira Shalev and Atty. Tamar Feldman, “One Rule, Two Legal Systems: Israel’s Regime of Laws in the West Bank” (p. 74), October 2014, https://law.acri.org.il/en/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Two-Systems-of-Law-English-FINAL.pdf.

[48] Al-Haq, “Six-Year-Old Blindfolded and Detained by Israeli Soldiers”, January 12, 2012, https://www.alhaq.org/monitoring-documentation/6939.html.

[49] Human Rights Watch, “Israel: Security Forces Abuse Palestinian Children”, July 19, 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/19/israel-security-forces-abuse-palestinian-children.

[50] DCIP 2016 (p. 47).

[51] DCIP 2016 (p. 3).

[52] Under the YCJA, no maximum time is specified, although a young person must be brought before a judge without unreasonable delay and any delay must be justified based on the circumstances of the case.

 [53] Detention of more than 24 hours in the absence of exceptional circumstances is presumptively unreasonable according to the Supreme Court of Canada in R v Hall, 2022 3 SCR 309.

[54] Government of Canada, “Section 10(b) – Right to Counsel”, https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art10b.html.

[55] Any delay in providing access to counsel must be justified based on the particular circumstances of the case.

[56] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Concluding Observations on the Second to Fourth Periodic Reports of Israel” (p. 19), July. 4, 2013, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC-C-ISR-CO-2-4.pdf.

[57] The Israel Democracy Institute, “Did you Know? Israel has no Law Guaranteeing the Basic Right to Equality,” February 9, 2021, https://en.idi.org.il/articles/33327

[58] No Way to Treat a Child (NWTTAC), “Canadian MP delegation meets with DCIP and former child detainee,” April 23, 2018, https://nwttac.dci-palestine.org/canadian_mp_delegation_meets_with_dcip_and_former_child_detainee

[59] “MPs Visit to Palestine and Israel,” published by the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, March 30-April 6, 2018, page 5. Green Party leader Elizabeth May also issued a separate press release in support of the recommendation for a special envoy: “Elizabeth May endorses recommendations to end human rights violations of Palestinian children,” July 9 2018, https://elizabethmaymp.ca/elizabeth-may-endorses-recommendations-to-end-human-rights-violations-of-palestinian-children/

[60] NWTTAC, “DCIP Brings No Way To Treat A Child To Parliament Hill,” April 30, 2018, https://nwttac.dci-palestine.org/dcip_brings_no_way_to_treat_a_child_to_parliament_hill

[61] CJPME, 2019 Elections Guide, “Incarceration of Palestinian Children,” August 6, 2019, https://www.cjpme.org/eg2019_response_to_israel_incarceration

[62] CJPME, “Canada, Stand Up for Children’s Rights,” ca. 2020, https://www.cjpme.org/childrensrights

[63] Parliament of Canada, House of Commons, Petition e-2667, last updated January 25, 2021, https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2667

[64] Paul Manly, House of Commons, Open Parliament, November 20, 2020, https://openparliament.ca/debates/2020/11/20/paul-manly-1/

[65] Parliament of Canada, House of Commons, Petition e-2667, last updated January 25, 2021,  https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2667

[66] “Canada Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Rights,” United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine Israel, accessed June 8, 2023 at https://www.unjppi.org/join-childrens-rights-campaign.html

[67] Parliament of Canada, House of Commons, Petition e-3312, last updated June 18, 2021,  https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-3312

[68] Heather McPherson, House of Commons, Open Parliament, October 24, 2022, https://openparliament.ca/debates/2022/10/24/heather-mcpherson-14/

[69] Jeremy Appel, “NDP Puts Forward 13-Point Plan for Justice in Israel-Palestine,” The Maple, August 31, 2022, https://www.readthemaple.com/ndp-palestine-policy/

[70] This recommendation has been foremost championed by the group ”Canada Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Rights.” More information about their work and how to be involved can be found at https://www.unjppi.org/join-childrens-rights-campaign.html

[71] CJPME, “Israel’s Criminalization of Palestinian NGOs,” last updated January 12, 2023, https://www.cjpme.org/palestinian_ngos