PHA-Exchange> Tel Aviv Conference on Child Protection

[Aviva]

From: "DR Jihad" <jihad at shabaka.net>
>
> Dear Friends
> This is a letter that we have conveyed to number of International
> personalities who will contribute to an extremely damaging conference
under
> the pretext of child protection .We would like you to be will informed.
> jihad mashal

> 17 October 2002
>
> Dear all,
>
> We are writing on behalf of the Palestinian Child Rights Coalition (PCRC)
to
> urge you to strongly reconsider your  participation in the upcoming
> conference "Protection of Child-Civilians in Times of Conflict."  PCRC, a
> network of 15 Palestinian NGOs working on issues concerning Palestinian
> children, will publicly boycott this conference.
>
> We have serious reservations about this conference and urge you to
> reconsider your participation for a number of reasons:
>
> First, we have serious concerns about the format and themes of the
> conference. We find the use of the phrase "child-civilians" in the
original
> conference title to be severely problematic, begging the question of
whether
> or not the conference organizers believe there to be a category of "child
> non-civilians" and, if so, is that category of children not guaranteed
> protection? This apparent distinction contradicts the Optional Protocol to
> the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children
in
> armed conflict which calls for an "improvement of the situation of
children
> without distinction."
>
> Second, though the conference will devote considerable discussion on the
> issue of Palestinian children, there is not a single mention of occupation
> in the entire conference program. Instead the situation is consistently
> referred to as one of 'conflict,' perpetuating the notion that the
situation
> is one of an ongoing battle between two sides of equal power, rather than
> one of a largely civilian population illegally occupied for over 35 years.
> Given that the main work of children's organizations in the occupied
> territories at present is protecting Palestinian children from gross and
> systematic violations of their rights as a result of Israeli government
> sanctioned occupation policy and working with children to help mitigate
the
> traumatic effects of life under military siege, we find this oversight
> appalling.
>
> Moreover, while the conference alleges to address the protection of
> children, there is a disproportionate focus on the issue of children's
> participation and crowd control. There is virtually no focus on other
> protection issues affecting children who are not participating, the
> overwhelming majority of the 1.5 million Palestinian children living in
the
> West Bank and Gaza Strip. For example, there are no panels regarding
> children's right to be protected from restrictions on freedom of movement
> that impede their access to education, their right to an adequate standard
> of living, their right to access to appropriate medical care, etc. There
are
> no panels discussing the right of children to be protected from illegal
> policies specifically related to this situation, such as the Israeli
policy
> of home demolition, deportations or extra-judicial killings. Though the
> majority of Palestinian children are gravely affected by these issues,
they
> do not seem to merit consideration in the context of this conference.
>
> Combined, these two factors contribute to the popular misconception that
> this 'conflict' is about armed action, rather than about a heinous and
> Kafkaesque system of control.   It is this system, i.e. the occupation,
from
> which children need to be protected and, therefore, the occupation should
be
> the primary focus of any conference on child protection at present. Thus,
> the approach to protection, as outlined by the conference program is
grossly
> reductive. Quite frankly, given the situation on the ground, the
allegation
> that this conference addresses protection issues for children is insulting
> both to the Palestinian children who are suffering on a daily basis, and
to
> child rights workers who are desperately trying to mitigate the affects of
> this suffering.
>
> Third, we find it outrageous that the conference is being held in a city,
> Tel Aviv, to which 3 million Palestinians are barred from traveling.  The
> chosen location of the conference calls us to question the motivation of
the
> conference organizers for choosing a city which would ipso facto prevent
> Palestinian participation. Also, we find it seriously problematic that a
> conference which undoubtedly will feature considerable discussion on the
> issue of Palestinian children was organized entirely without the input of
> any member of the PCRC, nor were any members invited to attend the event.
> The organization of this conference without the input of Palestinian
> children's organizations and the decision to hold it in a city completely
> inaccessible to most Palestinians belies a racist mentality, wherein,
> essentially, the 'subjects' to be discussed are effectively excluded from
> the discussion.
>
> Finally, we are deeply disturbed by the participation of several of the
> speakers at the conference. Itamar Rabinovich, President of Tel Aviv
> University and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, will offer
> greetings at the opening of the event. In a May 2002 interview,
Rabinovich,
> referred to Israel's invasion of the West Bank in March-April as
> "successful."* The March-April invasions killed over 40 Palestinian
children
> and precipitated the worst humanitarian crisis for Palestinian civilians
in
> decades. Further, he continues to regurgitate Israeli myths about the
> current situation, placing the blame on the Palestinian Authority, whom he
> states, has been waging "a "war of attrition" against us [Israelis] for
the
> last year and a half."  As individuals who personally survived the April
> attacks, we view Rabinovich's participation deeply upsetting.
>
> We are also concerned that Ruth Lapidoth is participating in the
conference.
> In an interview given with The Jerusalem Report magazine in 2002**,
> regarding the International Criminal Court (ICC), Lapidoth stressed that
she
> hoped that  the possibility of Israeli officials or soldiers being
arrested
> and tried overseas at the ICC would not "materialize." She also stated
that
> she hoped that the United States would use its veto power to prevent any
> attempt by the UN Security Council from bringing cases against Israelis
via
> the ICC.  We find it unthinkable that a conference that purportedly will
> focus on the ways and means to protect children from conflict would
include
> the participation of a speaker who has publicly expressed her hope that
> Israeli officials and soldiers will not be prosecuted by the ICC, a court
> designed specifically to bring to justice perpetrators of war crimes and
> crimes against humanity.
>
> We are seriously disturbed that one of the speakers at  the conference
will
> be an Israeli army Captain currently serving in the occupied territories.
> As an officer in the military forces that are systematically violating
> Palestinian human rights on a daily basis, we find his participation
> seriously offensive.  Officers such as this not only perpetuate and enable
> the continuance of the occupation, but they hold direct responsibility for
> the suffering to which Palestinians are subjected on a daily basis.
>
> In light of the above, we strongly urge you to seriously reconsider your
> participation in this conference. We understand that some of the
conference
> participants may be motivated to attend the event in the belief that their
> participation will ensure that some of the concerns raised above will be
> addressed within the format of the conference. However, we strongly
believe
> that the outcome of this conference could have a seriously negative impact
> on children's work in the area, and consequently on children themselves,
> given its reductive approach to protection issues and its apparent denial
of
> the main issue currently affecting children's protection, that is the
> occupation. Thus, we fear that not only will your participation merely add
> legitimacy and respectability to the proceedings, rather than succeed in
> highlighting problematic issues, but also that you personally will be
> associated with an  inherently flawed and insulting approach to child
> protection issues.
>
> We sincerely hope that you will take our concerns into your consideration.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Palestinian Child Rights Coalition
> Palestinian NGO Network
>
> For more information, contact George Abu Al-Zulof (052 436 289)  or Jihad
> Mashal (059 557 755).
>
> *http://www.ncjw.org/advocacy/israel-rabinovich.htm
> **http://www.jrep.com/Israel/Article-3.html
>
>
>
>
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