The UNICEF, the UNRWA and the OHCHR called on Friday upon the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release Amal Nakhleh, a critically-ill Palestinian teenager who has been in Israeli detention without charge or trial for over a year, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
“Neither Amal nor his lawyers or family have been informed of the reasons for his arrest and detention. Amal suffers from a severe autoimmune disease that requires continuous medical treatment and monitoring,” said the UN agencies in a joint statement.
UN agencies @UNICEF @UNHumanRights and @UNRWA call for the immediate and unconditional release from detention of a seriously ill Palestinian child Amal Nakhleh detained in Israel. https://t.co/CfAgWlo8U0
— United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee (@UNISPAL) January 20, 2022
The statement called “for Amal’s immediate and unconditional release from detention in line with international human rights law.”
According to The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory, “The detention of children is a last resort.”
Moreover, the Convention states that “Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent, and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action.”
Israeli authorities extended Amal Nakhleh's administrative detention order until May 18, 2022. He was detained without charge on Jan. 21, 2021—nearly a year ago. Amal suffers from a chronic autoimmune disease and turned 18 on Sunday. No charges have been filed against him. pic.twitter.com/ytJzlzhVk5
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) January 18, 2022
“Amal’s case is one of the more prolonged cases where a Palestinian child has been detained without charge or trial. It is however not an isolated case. Currently, at least another three Palestinians are in administrative detention who were under the age of 18 when first detained,” reads the joint statement.
“We echo the calls of the UN Secretary-General who in his Report on Children and Armed Conflict has, every year since 2015, urges Israel to end the administrative detention of children. This practice deprives children of their liberty and must immediately end.”
(WAFA, PC, Social Media)
