CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4
33.
The Committee is concerned that, when regulating surrogate motherhood
arrangements, the State party has paid insufficient attention to the rights and interests of
children born as a result of assisted reproduction technologies, particularly with the
involvement of surrogate mothers.
34.
The Committee recommends that, in the regulation of assisted reproduction
technologies, particularly with the involvement of surrogate mothers, the State party
ensure respect for the rights of children to have their best interests taken as a primary
consideration and to have access to information about their origins. The Committee
also recommends that the State party consider providing surrogate mothers and
prospective parents with appropriate counselling and support.
E. Violence against children (arts. 19, 37 (a) and 39 of the
Convention)
Torture and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment
35.
The Committee expresses its deepest concern about the reported practice of torture
and ill-treatment of Palestinian children arrested, prosecuted and detained by the military
and the police, and about the State party’s failure to end these practices in spite of repeated
concerns expressed by treaty bodies, special procedures mandate holders and United
Nations agencies in this respect. The Committee notes with deep concern that children
living in the OPT continue to be:
(a)
Routinely arrested in the middle of the night by soldiers shouting instructions
at the family and taken hand-tied and blindfolded to unknown destination without having
the possibility to say good bye to their parents who rarely know where their children are
taken;
(b)
Systematically subject to physical and verbal violence, humiliation, painful
restraints, hooding of the head and face in a sack, threatened with death, physical violence,
and sexual assault against themselves or members of their family, restricted access to toilet,
food and water. These crimes are perpetrated from the time of arrest, during transfer and
interrogation, to obtain a confession but also on an arbitrary basis as testified by several
Israeli soldiers as well as during pretrial detention;
(c)
Held in solitary confinement, sometimes for months.
36.
The Committee reminds the State party about its unavoidable responsibility to
prevent and eradicate torture and ill-treatment of children living in the OPT which
are not only a serious violation of article 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child but also a grave breach of article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The
Committee strongly urges the State party to:
(a)
Immediately remove all children from solitary confinement;
(b)
Launch without delay an independent inquiry into all alleged cases of
torture and ill- treatment of Palestinian children. This should include ensuring that at
all levels of the chain of command, those who have been ordering, condoning or
facilitating these practices be brought to justice and be punished with penalties
commensurate with the gravity of their crimes;
(c)
Take immediate measures to ensure that children living in the OPT are
provided with safe and child-friendly complaint mechanisms, including during trials,
with regard to the treatment they were subjected to at the time of arrest and
subsequent detention;
(d)
Ensure that relevant judicial authorities are exercising due diligence in
investigating and prosecuting acts that amount to torture or other forms of ill9