No Way to Treat a Child: Help Us End the Military Detention of Palestinian Children
Published on October, 33 2020
Stages of Detention Poster from the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign of Defense for Children International - Palestine.
By Odile Hugonot Haber and Jan Corderman
For the Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee
October 2020
Over the years we’ve kept WILPFers informed about the #nowaytotreatachild campaign. Israel is the only country in the world to automatically prosecute children in military courts that lack basic safeguards for a fair trial. In addition to e-News articles, we’ve sent you postcards to sign and send to your member of the US House of Representatives asking them to support bills introduced by US Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN).
Representatives of the American Friends Service Committee, Arab American Institute, Center for Constitutional Rights, Defense of Children International-Palestine, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations have documented how persistent grave human rights violations, systemic impunity, discrimination, and recent U.S. policy decisions—like relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem—impact the lives of Palestinian children growing up under military occupation.
The #nowaytotreatachild Campaign believes the U.S. government must take concrete steps towards a safe and just future for Palestinian children by holding Israeli authorities accountable for state violations of their rights.
Des Moines Branch shows support for Palestinians after a meeting with members of Iowa’s Congressional Delegation. From left: WILPFers Patti McKee, Kathleen McQuillan, and Mary Ann Koch. Friends Elizabeth Leas & Rhonda Phelps. Photo by Jan Corderman.
Representative McCollum’s bill this session is HR 2407, “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Military Occupation Act”. HR 2407 prohibits using our tax dollars to fund the military detention of children by any country, including Israel. Check it out here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2407.
Thank you for your work so far. To date, 24 Members of Congress have co-signed this important bill. Join with us to continue our push to make this bill law.
Use this link to find out who has signed HR 2407. If your representative has not yet signed on, please call them and ask them to become a cosponsor. If your rep is a cosigner, call and thank them for their support.
Helping to find cosponsors for HR 2407 is not the only way we can help:
1) Jewish Voices for Peace has a campaign that includes a letter signed by 1,600 Jewish activists, artists, Rabbis, writers, and others stating that children should never experience military detention and torture. Ask your friends who are part of JVP to join Jewish leaders to say: “NO KIDS IN CAGES”. As a partner of the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign led by Defense of Children International-Palestine (DCIP) and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) is also organizing a letter from Jewish leaders in support of HR 2407. Here’s a link for more info: https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/no-way-to-treat-a-child/
2) A second bill in the House also has support of the #nowaytotreatachild Coalition, and working to support it will help with the passage of HR 2407. This bill is H.R. 8050: The Israeli Annexation Non-Recognition Act
3) Watch a BBC report where you can hear directly from three of the children who have been detained: "Diaries of Childhood in Israeli Military Detention". Share this video with your local and national representatives, with your branches, and with your social networks.
Palestinian children have the right to a safe and just future.
In Solidarity,
Odile & Jan
Other helpful links:
https://www.facebook.com/nowaytotreatachild
New Bill Prohibits Israel from Using US Funds to Detain Palestinian Children
Support-H.R.-8050-The-Israeli-Annexation-Non-Recognition-Act-USCPR.pdf
