Women imprisoned –
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
By
Guest
Post • Mar 10th, 2010 at 16:13 •
8 March 2010
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association marks International
Women’s Day 2010 by honoring, commemorating and saluting Palestinian women
political prisoners and detainees in their steadfast resistance against Israeli
colonial occupation and struggle towards securing the right of Palestinians to
self-determination.
An estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested and detained since
1967 under Israeli military orders, which govern nearly every aspect of life in
the occupied Palestinian territory today, including more than 750 Palestinian
women arrested by Israel between the years 2000-2009. While the call to end
violence and arbitrary detention against women around the world should take
place 365 days a year, Addameer would like to take a moment today to reflect
upon and recognize the plight of Palestinian women and their unique experiences
of colonial violence within Israel’s prison system and unlawful regime of
colonial occupation.
As of March 2010, there remain 34 Palestinian women held in Israel’s prisons
and detention centers, including three women held under administrative
detention, eight women held pending trial and 23 women serving a sentence of
imprisonment, of whom five are serving life (including multiple life)
sentences. Both of the prisons that hold the majority of Palestinian female
detainees, HaSharon and Damon Prisons, are located outside the 1967 occupied
territory, in direct contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, which provides that, as an Occupying Power, Israel must detain
residents of the occupied territory in prisons inside the occupied territory.
The practical consequence of this unlawful transfer is that many prisoners have
difficulty meeting with their Palestinian defense counsel and do not receive
family visits as their attorneys and relatives are most often denied permits on
“security grounds” not disclosed to them.
In addition, both HaSharon and Damon Prisons lack a gender-sensitive approach
and, as such, female prisoners detained there suffer from harsh imprisonment
conditions and interlocking systems of oppression which are enacted through
medical negligence, denial of education, denial of family visits, solitary
confinement, and overcrowded cells. A majority of these cells are infested with
insects, dirty, and lack adequate ventilation and natural light. Personal
health and hygiene needs are rarely addressed by the Israeli Prison Service,
even in cases involving the detention of pregnant female detainees.
Other forms of abuse perpetrated against Palestinian women detainees and
prisoners include numerous forms of sexual harassment, namely: threats of rape
(in some cases threats of rape are made towards the detainee’s family members),
sexually degrading insults, and invasive body/strip searches used as a method
of punishment. These occurrences are a fundamental part of Palestinian women’s
prison experiences and should be understood as a common and systematic form of
racial and gendered State violence.
Moreover, research has shown that Israel’s prison authorities use these forms
of sexual harassment to deliberately exploit Palestinian women’s fears by
playing on patriarchal norms as well as gender stereotypes within particular
customs of Palestinian society. Accordingly, occurrences of sexual harassment
are a sensitive issue for Palestinian women and their families; this
vulnerability makes these measures especially effective tools for
interrogators, and is compounded by the lack of available post-assault
resources.
Addameer submits that Israel’s routine practice of strip searching female
prisoners and detainees as a method of punishment violates both international
human rights and humanitarian law, including the UN Convention against Torture
and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates in
Article 7 that: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment…”. Similarly, Article 3(1)(c) of the Fourth
Geneva Convention (1949) forbids“outrages upon personal dignity, in particular
humiliating and degrading treatment”.
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association condemns the use of all
measures of abuse Israeli actors use against female prisoners and detainees,
and calls for the immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners held
unlawfully outside the occupied Palestinian territory. Addameer further calls
for an immediate stop to Israel’s practices of sexual violence, including strip
searches and invasive body searches, shackling of pregnant women during labor,
and use of threats and/or other forms of sexual assault. In addition, Israeli
authorities, in particular the Prison Service, must meet their obligations
under the UN Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and ensure
that all subjects under Israeli jurisdiction are granted their full rights to
formal education for girls under the age of 18, (including access to books and
study materials inside the prisons), nutritional diet programs, especially for
pregnant detainees, health care including specialized gynecological services,
hospital/doctor visits when required, dental care, and open family visits
(especially for mothers of minors). Of particular importance, Addameer demands
that female prisoners and detainees be provided unhindered access to religious,
cultural and gender sensitive social services, including trained
Arabic-speaking women specialist in the field of social work, psychology and
counseling. It is important to note that these rights and services must be
administered only by Palestinians; as such, the Israeli authorities and the
Israel Prison Service must grant full, unhindered access to Palestinian
programs and service providers in this regard.
On International Women's Day 2010, Addameer stands in solidarity with
Palestinian political prisoners and detainees who remain strong in their
resistance against Israel’s colonial occupation regime, and asks the
international community for its continued support and solidarity all year
round.
For more information on female prisoners, please visit: www.addameer.info or
contact:
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
PO Box 17338, Jerusalem
Tel: +972 (0)2 296 0446
Fax: +972 (0)2 296 0447
Email: info@addameer.ps
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
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Free All Political Prisoners!
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