ISRAELI authorities’ routine use of solitary confinement against Palestinian child prisoners ahead of interrogations amounts to torture, a new and damning report has found.

The report, based on 108 cases documented by Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) over four years, found that the average duration of isolation was 14.3 days.

Nearly 40 per cent of the children endured a prolonged period of 16 or more days.

In the majority of cases, Palestinian child detainees were unlawfully transferred to detention and interrogation facilities located inside Israel, operated or controlled by the Israel Prison Service and Israel Security Agency, in violation of the fourth Geneva Convention.

DCIP found that 94 per cent of children had no access to legal consultations prior to interrogations and children in all cases had no lawyer or family member present. 

The interrogation techniques are often mentally and physically coercive; frequently incorporating a combination of intimidation, threats, verbal abuse and physical violence with a clear purpose of obtaining a confession, according to the report.

Authorities use coercive tactic, including the use of informants, resulting in children unintentionally making some incriminating statements or even false confessions, it added.

The report concluded that the physical and social isolation of Palestinian children for interrogation purposes was a practice that “constitutes solitary confinement, amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” under international norms. 

DCIP general director Khaled Quzmar said: “International law prohibits the use of solitary confinement and similar measures constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against children, and yet Israeli authorities frequently detain children in this manner.

“It is widely acknowledged that this practice causes both immediate and long-term psychological harm to children. It must end immediately, and the prohibition must be enshrined in law.”