NEW YORK (AP) – The
Zionist regime should be added to a UN blacklist if its violence against Palestinian children is repeated this year, UN chief Antonio Guterres says.
In its annual Children and Armed Conflict report, the UN said Zionist troops killed 78 Palestinian children, maimed another 982 and detained 637 in 2021.
“I am shocked by the number of children killed and maimed by Israeli forces during hostilities, in air strikes on densely populated areas and through the use of live ammunition during law enforcement operations,” the UN secretary-general said in the report.
“Should the situation repeat itself in 2022, without meaningful improvement, Israel should be listed,” he added.
So far this year, at least 15 Palestinian children have been killed by Zionist troops, according to the Geneva-based Defence for Children International’s Palestine chapter (DCI-P).
The annual report, which records grave violations against children in conflict areas around the world, has caused controversy at times over which parties are included in its “blacklist” at the end of each report.
The list is intended to exert pressure on states and armed groups around the world for violations against children verified by the UN.
Referring to the issue of the Palestinian children held in Zionist jails, Guterres stressed the need for the occupying regime to adhere to international standards regarding the detention of children, and to end the so-called administrative detention of kids, as well as ill-treatment and violence in detention.
Under the “administrative detention”, the Zionist regime keeps Palestinians without charge for up to six months, a period which can be extended for an infinite number of times. The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the occupying regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence. Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.
Palestinians and human rights groups say the “administrative detention” violates the right to due process since evidence is withheld from prisoners while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or convicted.