The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Monday warned that Palestinian children are being left increasingly unprotected as human rights defenders and humanitarian organizations are forced to halt or scale back their work in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the committee strongly condemned what it described as Israel’s recent tactics of labeling human rights defenders and civil society organizations as “terrorists.”
It said the measures have been accompanied by military raids, travel bans, financial sanctions, threats of arrest, destruction of records and threats of secondary sanctions against partners supporting their work.
The committee expressed concern that organizations assisting children are being forced to curtail operations because of “sustained harassment, threats, bans, sanctions and attacks on their reputations.”
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“For more than three decades, these organizations have played a vital role in defending Palestinian children, including in the Israeli military courts, and in documenting grave violations against Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli forces,” it said.
“Without them, Palestinian children will be even less protected, and violations of their rights risk continuing with impunity.”
The committee called on Israel to immediately remove restrictions on child rights defenders and humanitarian groups and urged the international community to hold Israeli authorities accountable for attacks targeting Palestinian human rights defenders.
“Child rights defenders have continued to stand with Palestinian children and families in extraordinarily dangerous conditions,” it said. “They must be protected, not punished.”
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