The reaction of minister Timmermans
May 13, 2014
Minister Frans Timmermans published his reaction to the questions asked in Foreign Affairs committee of the parliament in regard to the Military Court Watch report ‘The UNICEF Report – One year on’. In his answer minister Timmermans said that despite repeating affirmations by the Israeli government to work on the implementation of the recommendations in the UNICEF report, it seems that the situation of imprisoned Palestinian minors has only improved to a very limited extend. The reports of UNICEF, Military Court Watch and other (UN) organizations contain concrete recommendations concerning legal modifications and the implementation thereof. The cabinet will bring these recommendations forward in its contacts with the Israeli government.
The Cabinet will repeatedly bring up the situation of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention in their bilateral contacts with Israel and where possible within the framework of the EU. The Netherlands will continue calling upon the Israeli authorities to work towards treating Palestinian minors the same as it treats children under Israeli criminal law. The Netherlands has already made such recommendations during the Universal Periodic Review on Israel in the Human Rights Council of October 2013. Now that Israel has not as of yet implemented this recommendation, the Netherlands has put the topic on the agenda of the EU-Israel human rights dialogue.
At this moment the Netherlands is in contact with the authorities to determine whether a visit of the Human Rights Ambassador to the region is possible. The Netherlands will continue giving support the coming years to Israeli and Palestinian organizations who are monitoring the situation and are engaging in a dialogue on this with the authorities.