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7 August 2003

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) joins with Defence for Children International-Palestine Section, a member of OMCT’s network, in deploring the low number of Palestinian children who were released by the Israeli authorities on August 6th, 2003, as part of the so-called roadmap peace plan.

Of the approximately 340 persons who were released, only 13 were children, and 9 of the latter had almost served their sentences at the time of their release, while the other four were being held under administrative detention.

OMCT considers that the Israeli authorities have missed a significant opportunity to make a strong and positive gesture, given that some 350 children were being held in Israeli detention centres when the afore-mentioned releases took place.

As a result, OMCT urges the authorities to order the unconditional release of all minors that remain in detention, bearing in mind that children are a group that is particularly vulnerable within the context of the occupation.

OMCT recalls that the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by Israel on October 3rd, 1991, states that “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.”

(c) 1999- The Children and Armed Conflict Unit