UNICEF: Israel negligent in guarding children's rights

[Violet_Crumble]

Report notes that Israel has passed a number of laws addressing children's rights which are not efficiently implemented.
By Or Kashti

The recently drafted report, compiled by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, notes that while Israel has passed a number of laws addressing children's rights, it does not see to it that the laws are efficiently implemented.

The report also criticizes Israel for maintaining that the UN convention on the Rights of the Child does not apply in the West Bank.

The UN General Assembly approved the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1989, after a decade of deliberations. Yesterday, the anniversary of the vote, marks International Children's Day.

The Convention was ratified by 200 countries, including Israel, in 1991.

UNICEF established the Committee on the Rights of the Child to report every few years on the implementation of the Convention in various countries.

The report on Israel was prepared a few weeks ago in UNICEF's headquarters in Geneva, and is based on Israel's responses to an official questionnaire.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/unicef-israel-negligent-in-guarding-children-s-rights-1.325790

[Crunchy Frog]

1. I know that in the West Bank there is a HUGE difference in treatment

between the children of settlers and the indiginous Palestinian children.

I don't remember the exact details but I remember some huge scandal when some settler brats who were clearly breaking the law by continuing to build and rebuild an outpost got thrown in the slammer for a couple of days. The people raising the stink didn't even notice or care that there were Palestinian children who had been languishing for months in Israeli prisons, and under far harsher conditions.

How is it possible that there are parts of the world where the UN convention on the Rights of the Child does not apply? I thought they were supposed to be universal. Can any country in the world simply say that they don't apply to areas that country controls, or to some of the children living in that area?

I know the U.S. has never ratified the convention, which I find appalling, but at least we haven't singled out say, Indian reservations, as places where they don't apply.