PALESTINEPALESTINEA report on Palestinian children detained in occupied East Jerusalem between January and June 2011, based on the cases of 118 children and the testimony of 16 children, found that children frequently experienced physical and verbal violence by law enforcement officers or military personnel during their arrest or while in custody. Children were punched, kicked, slapped, painfully handcuffed, threatened and verbally abused.
(DCI-Palestine, 2011, In their own Words: A report on the situation facing Palestinian children detained in occupied East Jerusalem)
In January 2011, Defence for Children International – Palestine Section (DCI-Palestine) published a report on Palestinian children detained in the Israeli miltary court system, covering July to December 2010. The report describes widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of children as young as 12: complaints included being beaten or kicked (70%), being made to adopt painful positions (60%), verbal abuse and humiliation (45%) and electric shocks (7.5%).
(DCI-Palestine, 2011, A report on the situation facing Palestinian children detained in the Israeli military court system, www.dci-pal.org/English/Doc/Press/EASTJERUSALEM_JANUARY2011.pdf)
Research which included a survey with 306 students in three schools and focus groups with 88 students, teachers, counsellors and principals found that 36.6% of students had often seen a teacher hit students or been hit themselves. 37.6% reported that this happened sometimes and 25.7% rarely. 22.2% had heard a teacher insult students or been insulted themselves often, 30.6% sometimes and 47.1% rarely.
(Riyada Consulting and Training, 2010, Level of Violence in UNRWA Schools in the West Bank – Protective Sphere for Palestinian Children, Save the Children UK)
A 2009 report by Defence for Children International – Palestine Section documented widespread and systematic violations of the rights of Palestinian children in Israeli custody in the occupied Palestinian territory, including corporal punishment. Children reported being kicked, hit, beaten with guns and tied up.
(DCI-Palestine, 2009, Palestinian Child Prisoners: The systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities)
In research on violence in educational settings which involved 1,723 children in 15 schools in five districts in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, 80% of students in school grades 1-3, 15% of those in grades 4-6 and 30% of those in grades 7-10 said they were “exposed to beating” at school.
(MaDad, 2009, Protective Sphere for Palestinian Children Project: Executive Summary – the Participatory Action Research report, Save the Children UK)
According to statistics from UNICEF on violence in the family, 95% of children aged 2-14 experienced physical punishment and/or psychological aggression in 2005-2006: 70% experienced physical punishment and psychological aggression, 3% experienced psychological aggression only and 2% experienced physical punishment only.
(UNICEF, 2009, Progress for Children: A report card on child protection, NY: UNICEF
www.childinfo.org/files/Progress_for_Children-No.8_EN.pdf)
In a survey of 679 parents in the south of the Gaza Strip in 2007, nearly 100% admitting to inflicting corporal punishment and/or verbal punishment on their children.
(Survey results conducted during the “Community-Based Child Protection” project, Al Shoka, South Gaza Strip, Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution and SCS, 2007, on file at the DCI-Palestine Ramallah office, reported in Trojan, V., 2008, Child Rights Situation Analysis: Right to Protection in the occupied Palestinian territory – 2008, Ramallah/Jerusalem: DCI-Palestine/Save the Children Sweden)
The Domestic Violence Survey carried out in 2005/6 found that 27.9% of women agreed that a husband should beat his wife if she left the house without asking, 10.5% agreed that a husband should beat his wife if she fails to prepare the food on time. The report documented high “exposure” to violence at home by children, although it did not directly address corporal punishment by parents.
(Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2006, Domestic Violence Survey (December, 2005 – January, 2006): Main Findings Report, Ramallah, Palestine)
Figures published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2005 showed that over 50% of mothers supported the use of corporal punishment when children misbehave.
(Information on file at the DCI-Palestine Ramallah office, reported in Trojan, V., 2008, Child Rights Situation Analysis: Right to Protection in the occupied Palestinian territory – 2008, Ramallah/Jerusalem: DCI-Palestine/Save the Children Sweden)
A study by the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture and Organized Violence on violence in public and private schools in the West Bank found that of 2,331 students surveyed (aged 14-17), 50.8% reported having been beaten by a school teacher. Only 0.6% said that teachers are never violent towards students. The study also asked about being beaten at home: 43.6% said that they or their siblings were beaten by their father, 47.5% by their mother.
(Sehwail. Mahmu, Rasra, Khader, & Alkrenawi. Alean, 2005, The phenomenon of Violence as perceived by Palestinian school pupils aged (14-17 years); (8-11 grade), at the schools of the public and private sectors in the West Bank, Palestine, Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture and Organized Violence)
A study on violence in schools in 2004 found that 44% of teachers used physical punishment on students, 77% used verbal punishment. It also found that 52% of fathers and 60% of mothers physically punish their children.
(UNICEF and Birzeit University, 2004, Primary School Years
www.unicef.org/oPt/children_215.html)