UN Committee on Child Rights Questions Israel’s Policies Against Palestinians

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child released its List of Issues requesting additional and updated information from Israel regarding its combined second, third, and fourth state periodic report on 18 October 2012. The publication of the list follows the Committee’s preliminary review of Israel during its pre-sessional working group meetings on 8-12 October 2012 in Geneva. In the List of Issues, the Committee emphasized Israel’s responsibility to report on the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a territory under the State’s jurisdiction according to international law. The List of Issues also highlighted several areas where poverty, health, and education gaps exist between Jewish and Arab-Palestinian children citizens of Israel, many of which were raised by Adalah’s NGO report to the Committee.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child released its List of Issues requesting additional and updated information from Israel regarding its combined second, third, and fourth state periodic report on 18 October 2012.  The publication of the list follows the Committee’s preliminary review of Israel during its pre-sessional working group meetings on 8-12 October 2012 in Geneva.

In the List of Issues, the Committee emphasized Israel’s responsibility to report on the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a territory under the State’s jurisdiction according to international law. The List of Issues also highlighted several areas where poverty, health, and education gaps exist between Jewish and Arab-Palestinian children citizens of Israel, many of which were raised by Adalah’s NGO report to the Committee. The Committee asked questions that relate directly to the following issues raised in Adalah’s report:

  • The ban on family unification between Palestinian families and children from the OPT and Israel (2.c).

  • The existing gap in health indicators between Jewish and Arab-Palestinian children, in particular in life expectancy and infant mortality  (8).

  • The lack of access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities for children all in Israel, in reference to Arab Bedouin children in the unrecognized villages in the Naqab (Negev) (10).

  • The demolition of the homes and property of Palestinian families, remedies for victims, and the issuance of construction permits (11).

  • The poverty gap between Jewish and Arab-Palestinian children (12.a).

  • The gaps in education between Jewish and Arab-Palestinian children, including in enrolment rates and the quality and quantity of educational facilities and resources (13).

Adalah welcomes these questions and will review Israel’s responses to them, before submitting a follow-up NGO report to the Committee in preparation for its forthcoming full review sessions of Israel.

Read more:

Press Release – Report to UN Committee on Rights of the Child Details Inequality, Rights Abuses Against Arab-Palestinian Children in Israel – 15 October 2012

Adalah’s Interventions to UN Committees to improve Israel’s Compliance with its International Law Obligations