UN Accuses Israel of Violating Child Rights Treaty: A Dark Chapter in History

The United Nations committee on Thursday accused Israel of “major violations” of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Palestinian territories it has occupied, particularly in regards to its almost year-long offensive on the Gaza Strip.

“Such a shocking number of child deaths is almost unparalleled in history. This marks a particularly bleak period in history,” commented Bragi Guðbrandsson, deputy chair of the U.N. Child Rights Committee. The committee also published its findings on five other signatories to the worldwide treaty—Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Mexico, and Turkmenistan.

Since the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, Israeli forces have reportedly killed a minimum of 41,272 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded an additional 95,551, based on local officials’ reports. More individuals are still missing and presumably dead, buried under the debris of bombed civilian infrastructures. The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced, often multiple times.

Earlier this week, the Gaza Health Ministry publicly named 34,344 Palestinians who have been killed in the Hamas-controlled enclave as of August 31. The report spans 649 pages, the first 14 of which list the names of infants. In total, the list comprises of 11,355 children.

The U.N. report notes that “the committee is deeply concerned about… the shockingly high number of children in Gaza who continue to be killed, injured, declared missing, displaced, made orphans, and subjected to starvation, malnutrition, and disease. It also notes the repeated displacement of the Gaza population due to the state’s indiscriminate and disproportionate assaults on Gaza using explosive weapons in densely populated areas and its denial of humanitarian access. The report lists at least 1 million displaced children, 21,000 missing children, 20,000 children who have lost one or both parents, 17,000 children separated from their families in Gaza, several child deaths due to malnutrition, and 3,500 children at risk of death due to malnutrition and food shortage.”

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The panel also voiced concern over “attacks on and the destruction of hospitals, schools, residential buildings, refugee camps, and essential infrastructure like power facilities and water tanks by the armed forces, limiting access to health services, education, and housing for nearly 1 million children living in Gaza.”

Guðbrandsson stated, “We can’t identify any measures taken to protect children’s lives during this military operation in Gaza.”

“We haven’t seen violations of this scale before, as we are witnessing in Gaza now,” he added. “These are very severe violations that we don’t often see.”

As reported by Reuters:

Israel, which ratified the treaty in 1991, accused the committee of having a “politically motivated agenda,” according to a statement released by its diplomatic mission in Geneva.

In early September, they sent a large delegation to a series of U.N. hearings in Geneva, arguing that the treaty did not apply in Gaza or the West Bank. They asserted their commitment to respecting international humanitarian law.

They claim their military campaign in Gaza is aimed at eliminating the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers and that they do not target civilians. However, they argue that the militants hide among civilians, a claim which Hamas denies.

Anne Skelton, head of the U.N. committee, countered Israel’s stance on Thursday, stating to reporters, “In our opinion, they are not acknowledging the fact that 17,000 children are dead and that there have been repeated attacks on schools and hospitals.”

The report also refutes Israel’s claims, stating, “the committee deeply regrets the state’s consistent denial of its legal obligations under the convention in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) based on its stance that the convention ‘does not apply… to areas beyond a state’s national territory’ and ‘was not designed to apply in situations of armed conflict,’ and that international humanitarian law is the applicable body of law in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”

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“The committee also regrets the limited information it received on the situation of children living in the OPT due to such a stance,” continued the 22-page “concluding observations” document. “The committee believes that the state’s denial of the application of the convention cannot be used to justify its severe and persistent violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

The panel referenced a July advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice stating that “international human rights instruments apply.” The ICJ—which has taken up a genocide case against Israel—also declared at the time that the long-standing Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must be ended “as swiftly as possible.”

The new report states that the Child Rights Committee, “aligning its stance with that of the ICJ, reasserts that the convention applies to all children at all times and is directly applicable in all territories over which the state exercises effective control. It also reminds the state of its legal obligations under both the convention and international humanitarian law concerning children in the OPT.”

Skelton also suggested that “the only real way to uphold children’s rights in this situation is a cease-fire.”

Nevertheless, Israel shows no signs of stopping its assault on the Palestinian enclave. In fact, fears of a broader regional conflict have increased this week due to bombings of pagers, walkie-talkies, and other devices across Lebanon. These attacks, allegedly targeting Hezbollah members, have been attributed to Israel’s military and intelligence operatives by Israeli and U.S. officials.

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The Child Rights Committee’s report follows U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres including Israel in the so-called “List of Shame” of nations that injure and kill children during armed conflicts. This June decision was met with outrage by Israeli officials but lauded by human rights advocates as long overdue.

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