Palestinian FM reiterates it call for including Israel in UN “List of Shame”

Palestinian Foreign Ministry has called on the UN Secretary General to include the Israeli occupation in the UN “List of Shame” because of its violation of the right of the Child.

The call came on the occasion of the Palestinian Child Day, which coincides today.

According to WAFA, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) asserted that out of 4500 Palestinians held in Israeli jails for their resistance of the occupation, 140, or 3.1 percent, are children under the age of 18, based on data of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

As they are still in detention, they are deprived of their childhood, including continuing their studies, in addition to being subjected to violations during arrest, which violates the rules of international law and the Convention of the Rights of the Child, said the report.

The PCBS said according to the records of the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), nine children were killed by Israelis in 2020 compared to 28 children during 2019.

Regarding infections from the novel COVID-19 pandemic, less than one-fifth of the coronavirus cases in Palestine are among children 18 years or less.

The PCBS said that the percentage of children 18 years or less who were infected with coronavirus in Palestine up to the end of March reached 14.1% of the total number of infected people in Palestine, (50.8% of them are males and 49.2% of them are females), 52.7% of them are in the age group 13-18 years, 30.4% are 6-12 years, and 16.9% are 0-5 years.

The estimated number of children under 18 years in Palestine is 2.31 million by mid-2021, with 1.18 million males and 1.13 million females. Children in Palestine comprise 44.2% of the total population (42.0% in the West Bank, and 47.5% in Gaza Strip), said the PCBS.

Statistics also showed a decline in the percentage of early marriage (for those under the age of 18) for both sexes, where it reached 19.3% of the females registered marriages in 2019 (19.0% in the West Bank and 19.9% in Gaza Strip) out of the total number of females registered marriages in the same year compared with 24% in 2010. Whereas this percentage reached 0.9% of the males’ registered marriages out of the total number of males registered marriages in the same year compared to 2% in 2010.

The dropout rate in the scholastic year 2018/2019 was about 0.9% among males compared to 0.6% among females, while the repetition rate among males was 0.9% compared to 0.7% among females for the same scholastic year.

Only 51% of households in Palestine with children 6-18 years and enrolled in education before the coronavirus lockdown had their children participate in online education during the lockdown; (53.3% in the West Bank and 48.5% in Gaza Strip).  Also, there is a clear variation between the different governorates in terms of student participation, where the highest participation was in Jerusalem Governorate (84.8%) and the lowest was in Hebron Governorate (38.9%).

Unavailability of internet is considered a reason for the deprivation of the children of about half of the households from participating in online education during the lockdown period March to May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with 48.5% of households pointing out that the unavailability of internet in the household prevented their children from participating in the online educational activities during the lockdown period.

Basma Qaddour