A/HRC/28/80 7. Detention of children 28. At the end of September 2014, 181 boys and one girl were in Israeli detention for alleged security offences. Their ages ranged from 14 to 17 years, with 125 in pretrial detention and 57 serving a sentence.17 This was approximately the same as the monthly average seen in 2013.18 Approximately 49 per cent of children in detention were unlawfully transferred to Israel, in violation of article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. 29. Some of the testimonies gathered by the Working Group on Grave Violations against Children between May 2013 and September 2014 from 159 children illustrate what children experience in Israeli detention. These showed that many of the issues highlighted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in February 2013 19 remained a concern. Many stated that they had been arrested by Israeli security forces during military night raids despite the recommendation made by UNICEF that they be stopped and that the pilot scheme introduced by Israel in October 2013 to issue summonses be adopted instead.20 In most cases, parents were not clearly informed at the time of arrest of where their child was being taken or the reason for the arrest. In all the cases documented, parents were not allowed to accompany their children, and three-quarters of the children stated that they had not been informed of their right to legal counsel. A total of 89 per cent of those interviewed reported being painfully hand-tied, 76 per cent blindfolded and 77 per cent subjected to beating, slapping, kicking and beatings with a stick on various parts of the body, including the head and face. Almost 40 per cent of the children suffered from painful restraints or from being forced to lie on the floor of a vehicle used by the Israeli security forces. 21 30. According to some affidavits seen, children had been subjected to torture and/or illtreatment during interrogation with the purpose of obtaining a confession, as previously reported by the Secretary-General and non-governmental organizations.22 Children reported having been restrained to a chair, in some cases for extended periods, which caused them pain in their hands, back and legs. Many children experienced physical violence or were threatened with solitary confinement, sexual assault against them or a family member, and reportedly received death threats. Some were coerced to sign a confession in Hebrew, a language most did not understand. According to UNICEF, most children saw their lawyers for the first time when they were brought to court. 17 18 19 20 21 22 8 UNICEF, Children in Israeli Military Detention, Bulletin No. 2, February 2015, p. 3. Military Court Watch, a non-governmental organization, informed OHCHR that the figures given might not reflect the real number of children arrested and detained since, for example, children detained for short periods by the Israeli security forces and not transferred to Israeli prisons were not included. UNICEF, Children in Israeli Military Detention, Observations and Recommendations, February 2013. See ibid, Timing of arrests and arrest warrants, recommendation (i), p. 15. See also UNICEF, Children in Israeli Military Detention, Bulletin No. 2, February 2015. Information provided by the monitoring and reporting mechanism, managed by country-based task forces co-led by UNICEF to provide timely and reliable information on grave violations of children’s rights. The UNICEF-led Working Group on Grave Violations against Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory informed OHCHR that the mechanism database stores records on all cases of physical violence and verbal abuse, but not on the time of the event. The statistics related to physical violence and verbal abuse relate to the whole detention process including the arrest, transfer and interrogation. See CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4, paras. 35-36. DCI-Palestine and Military Court Watch also documented many similar allegations in their submissions to OHCHR. See also A/HRC/24/30, paras.56-57.