April 2011 - Overview
This month saw a small decrease in the number of children prosecuted in the Israeli military courts and imprisoned. The detention figures fell by three percent compared with the previous month. There was also a reduction in the number of young children (12-15 years) being detained.
In early April, the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) organised a visit to the region by a delegation of UK parliamentarians. As part of the visit, the delegation spent a morning in Ofer Military Court and witnessed a number of children being led into the court room with their legs in chains. On their return to the UK, one member of the delegation, Lord Dubs, gave a speech in the House of Lords regarding the treatment and prosecution of Palestinian children in Israeli military courts.
Also in April, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Britain’s largest teachers union with over 250,000 members, passed a motion in support of Palestinian women and child prisoners which condemns their mistreatment, and calls on the NUT’s Executive to ‘incorporate this cause into the international work of the Union at every opportunity.’