Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to support this motion moved by the member for Calwell. The motion reads:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that:

(a) 500 to 700 Palestinian children are arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system each year;

(b) Human Rights Watch reported in April that arrests of Palestinian children by Israeli forces had doubled in the preceding six months;

(c) Defence for Children International research, based on 429 affidavits from Palestinian children, indicates that 97 per cent of children had no parent or legal counsel available during interrogation and 75 per cent endured some form of physical violence following arrest;

(d) the United States State Department's 2014 human rights report on Israel states that military courts have more than a 99 per cent conviction rate for Palestinian defendants;

(e) UNICEF has reported that ill-treatment in the Israeli military detention system remains widespread, systematic, and institutionalised throughout the process; and

(f) Australia raised concerns with Israel about the treatment of Palestinian minors in 2011 and 2014, however there has been little improvement concerning the treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces; and

(2) calls on the Australian Government to raise concerns with the Israeli Government about the treatment of Palestinian children.

This situation is intolerable. The Australian government has acknowledged in the past that there has been problem and it has raised it, but it has gone quiet for some period of time, and not only have we not seen an improvement in the situation but we have seen a deterioration.

The motion references Human Rights Watch in paragraph (1)(b). It is worth considering for a moment what Human Rights Watch has said. It has said:

Israel enforces severe and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinians’ human rights, and it builds and supports unlawful settlements in the occupied West Bank. Its security forces appear to use excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators and suspected attackers, raising the specter of extra-judicial killings. It has renewed the practice of punitive home demolitions.

It is also worth considering what Amnesty International has said about this point, and especially what Amnesty International has said about this practice of detention. Amnesty International has said in its 2015-16 annual report:

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli forces committed unlawful killings of Palestinian civilians, including children, and detained thousands of Palestinians who protested against or otherwise opposed Israel’s continuing military occupation, holding hundreds in administrative detention.

Now, the other parts of the motion are worth considering and reflecting on themselves, because they are essentially unassailable fact.

As I noted previously, our government has raised the issue previously but no further action has been taken. It is concerning when one puts this in the context of our government's willingness to stand back and not use its relationship with the state of Israel to press for action on this important question of human rights. We saw it during the attack that was called by the Israeli government Operation Protective Edge. The Australian government sat back and did not raise concerns about human rights violations.

Yes, there were some who said that human rights violations occurred on several sides, but the Australian government said nothing about any of it. But when it comes to the detention of children at such high rates as have been seen in the motion, where it becomes almost a fact that if you are brought in for a hearing you are likely to end up in some form of detention, then Australia must act.

The government itself does not have a proud record here at home when it comes to keeping children in detention, but even the government has acknowledged—and the Minister the Immigration and Border Protection stands up in parliament and acknowledges this—that no-one wants to see children in detention. Well, if that is a good enough principle to apply here it should also apply to Palestinian children. If we as a country want to talk about the importance of maintaining strong relationships with other countries around the world then there is no point in being friends with governments if you do not use that supposed friendship to stand up to them when they do the wrong thing—to say, 'You need to act on what is clearly an egregious abuse of human rights.' Otherwise, if you do not stand up to governments when they do that, you become complicit in it. The standard that you walk past is the standard that you accept.

That means that the Australian government has now been put on notice. It has taken action in the past, and it is time that it renewed that action so that we address what is clearly an unlawful but also immoral abuse of children.

Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If it pleases the House, I rise to support this motion. I thank the member for Calwell for bringing this important matter to the attention of the House.

Palestinian children living in the West Bank are subject to the Israeli military law, which allows for any person as young as 12 years old to be considered criminally responsible and to be imprisoned. This fact, in and of itself, should be enough to cause concern for the international community. Five hundred to 700 Palestinian children are arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system each year.

In my home state of Tasmania there is currently a debate about early education; not whether it is important—that is accepted as fact by both sides—it is the implementation of this vital element of early brain development and how to get the most out of our children's potential that is at stake. We know that the experiences of childhood leave lasting impressions on adults, well into their lives. Simply by reading to a child every night from birth can increase their academic success in the future. But the fruits of this labour cannot be seen for decades and are, in this case, at the heart of this debate.

What then for a child who lives in an environment of distrust and hate? The mere crossing of a street can find them face down on the bitumen, stood over by two or more grown men with fully automatic rifles as they are searched, seemingly because of no provocation. Most suffer some form of violence during their arrest. Many are arrested from their homes in the middle of the night. Scared and confused, more often than not their parents are not told of the reason for their arrest or the location of their child's detention.

Children are interrogated; position abuse, threats and isolation are all used as tactics to garner a confession. Given that a child in solitary confinement is held on average for 13 days, is it any wonder that the confession rate is over 90 per cent? Military prosecutors rely on these coerced confessions, which are rarely thrown out by judges, to obtain a conviction. Indeed, Israeli military courts have a 99 per cent conviction rate for Palestinian defendants.

While many children maintain their innocence, pleading guilty is often the fastest way out of the system. For those that do go to trial, bail is rarely granted, and children remain behind bars, waiting for their day in court. On average, of cases that resulted in conviction, 50 per cent received a custodial sentence of between three and 12 months. The majority of Palestinian child detainees are transferred from occupied territory to prisons inside Israel, making family visits virtually impossible, as parents struggle to gain entry permits into Israel.

What can we expect over the next decade as these children grow into adults, who will become the decision makers of the future? Can we expect to see mutual respect—or trust, indeed—grow from these interactions? What are the lessons that these children are learning?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child compels state parties, of which Israel is one, to ensure that no child 'be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily' and says that imprisonment of a child should only be used as 'a measure of last resort' That is the last resort. Further, as a signatory to the convention, Australia is obligated to take steps to ensure that no child is subject to torture or other degrading treatment or punishment.

I note that the work of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory is acknowledging the issues within our own system and ensuring that oversight mechanisms and safeguards are in place to ensure that, where a child is detained, they are treated appropriately and with respect.

Australia raised concerns with Israel about the treatment of Palestinian minors in 2011 and again in 2014. However, there has been little improvement concerning the treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces. I call on the Turnbull government to raise with the Israeli government these concerns about the treatment of Palestinian children.

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think this is a very interesting topic to be talking about. For me, as an MP who represents the Mallee, why does it matter? Why do I care? I am in the Mallee. What do I know about the Middle East? That was the thought process that went through my head as a new MP. I started to get delegations that would come and see me in my office from the Israel lobby group and the Palestinian lobby group. I got offered free trips.

I am a bit of a person who believes that you should go and have a look for yourself, so, at Christmas 2015, my wife and I self-funded a trip and went over there ourselves. We said to the Palestinian lobby group, 'We'll give a day to you,' and to the Israelis, 'We'll give a day to you.' We drove around through the southern end, up to the Golan Heights. I just want to reflect on some of what I saw.

Can I first say that it is always the children that suffer. Whenever we have a conflict of humankind where we cannot sort our stuff out, it is always the children that suffer. It was brought home to me that it actually does matter what Australia thinks, because really there are four or five major nations in the world that do take a position on these issues: the United States, Great Britain, members of the European Union and Australia. It actually does matter what our view is.

If I can reflect on what my view is, it is that little grace is given on either side. I went down to Jericho and, being a farmer, I wanted to sit down with the Bedouins. So we sat down with the Bedouins and ate some rice, and they asked whether my wife, who was accompanying me, was my first wife. I said, 'No, she's my only; I don't need more than one.' We talked about livestock, the common language. What I found was that there in the West Bank a new settlement had been put. Really, there was no justification that I could see in my mind for putting that settlement there. The Bedouins, who were accessing the well, had had their well capped and had had the water from that well taken to feed that settlement, so the Bedouins were going to have to take their water carts into town to get water.

Now, the farmer in me gets thinking, 'Well, what does a 30,000-litre tank cost?'—a couple of thousand dollars. What would it have mattered if they had just put a tank there as well, and put a water supply for the Bedouin? It would have cost about $5,000—small steps of grace! I guess this is the take-home message that I got from my trip to Israel: amazing country, amazing people—both Palestinians and Israelis—but unfortunately, increasingly fewer steps of grace. When you give steps of grace, you begin to see the person who is a Palestinian, if you are an Israeli, as a person. If you are a Palestinian, you see the Israeli not as an oppressor but as a person. I have a theory from my observations when travelling: it is that all people really just want to see their child have a better standard of life than they had. It does not have to be a First World standard; just a better standard of life.

I fear about the conflict that appears to be growing in the Middle East. It is because of that lack of graciousness with one another that the Palestinian people are seeing that their children are not having that better standard of life, which is a great political failing of the Israeli government, I have to say. Whilst the Israeli government is seeing their view that security is the most important thing to them—and I must admit, I was at the Golan Heights, and there was Syria just over there, and the Syria conflict was taking place, and I felt very safe in the Golan Heights because of the Israeli defence force—they have missed the one key point, which is that unless you distribute some graciousness, you actually undermine your own domestic security.

Those are some of the reflections I have. In the few minutes remaining I will say that Israel is a great nation and the Palestinians are a proud people. I found that even when I had the meetings on both sides, even internally, no-one could completely agree on what the answers were, and I do not profess to know the answers. But as we individually take small steps of graciousness towards one another we go a long way towards solving the problems of the Middle East. Until governments on both sides commit to that, I think we will continue to have a conflict for many years to come.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to support this motion. It is not hard to think about the conflict between Israel and Palestine and throw your hands up in despair. Few other conflicts on the planet create such polarised views around the globe and have such an embedded effect upon the current structure of international relations. Few other conflicts evoke such heated discussion elsewhere than in the region from which they originate.

However, I am not here today to take a side. The story of Israel and Palestine is tragic in both its length and its depth of suffering. Whilst there are many injustices in the conflict, I am here to talk about one in particular: the increasing use of military detention of Palestinian children by Israeli forces. I am indebted to the work of UNICEF for much of the information that I will now relate to the chamber.

Israel established its juvenile military court in September 2009, the first and only military court in operation in the world. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that state parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child should establish separate facilities for children deprived of their liberty, including distinct child-centred staff, personnel, policies and practices. I agree with UNICEF's conclusion that all children should be diverted wherever possible from entering the law enforcement and judicial systems. Depriving children of their liberty should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible time period, yet somewhere between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted every year.

It is not clear what the current Palestinian juvenile conviction rate is in Israeli military courts. However, it is most distressing to learn that, according to a 2014 United States State Department report, Israeli military courts have a conviction rate of more than 99 per cent for all Palestinians. One can conclude that the juvenile conviction rate is at least very high.

The Israeli juvenile military court hears all ordinary proceedings concerning children. However, those critical issues relating to the detention of young children, such as remand hearings and bail applications, can instead be heard in the military courts used for adults. The reason that this is a problem is that the judges in adult military courts are not required to have any special training or understanding of any of this special vulnerability that children face in going through a justice system.

The concern is further compounded in instances where the Israeli adult military court mistakenly tries a minor. Even if the court later realises its mistake, that court can choose to continue to hear the case as is, as if it were a military juvenile court again, regardless of whether or not the judge has any special training to conduct such matters or any particular understanding of the vulnerability children may face.

It must be recognised that these issues are not just technical legal concerns. They cause real problems in how long children end up being deprived of their liberty, and under what conditions. The majority of Palestinian children prosecuted by Israel are charged with throwing stones. Throwing a stone with the intent to harm a person or property carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. A child aged between 10 and 13 can receive a maximum sentence of six months, but a child between 14 and 15 can receive a maximum penalty of 10 years. Throwing a stone at a moving vehicle with the intent to harm a vehicle or a person carries a maximum penalty of 20 years. Thus, a 14 or 15-year-old Palestinian child could be caught throwing a stone at a moving tank and, as long as they had the intention of damaging the tank, they could theoretically end up with a 20-year sentence.

No-one is claiming that throwing rocks at tanks is behaviour that should be blindly tolerated. But the possibility exists that, as a result, a Palestinian child could end up with a 20-year sentence in prison, which is utterly disproportionate to the nature of the original behaviour. It is shameful that this possibility exists within a modern democracy such as Israel. I call on our government to implore the Israeli government to dramatically and drastically reform their system of juvenile military courts. We must communicate these concerns, as a matter of urgency.

Debate adjourned.