Stop the Torture of Palestinian and Lebanese Prisoners – Open the Prisons to the Red Cross
Madam President of the International Committee of the Red Cross,
We, the undersigned, address you in your capacity as guardian of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which entrusted the International Committee of the Red Cross with the responsibility of protecting prisoners.
We call upon you to provide Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons with the protection stipulated in the Third Convention concerning prisoners of war and the Fourth Convention concerning civilian detainees, as well as the First Additional Protocol of 1977.
Madam President, Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to extremely harsh detention conditions and are deprived of the most basic rights established by these Conventions, constituting a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights, specifically the Third Convention concerning the protection of prisoners of war, the United Nations Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the customary rules of international humanitarian law.
In addition to torture and the most brutal acts committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its prisons, Israel has prevented the International Committee from visiting prisoners and detainees, thereby violating the Third Geneva Convention and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, which affirmed Israel’s obligation to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross unrestricted access to detainees.
More alarmingly, Israel is working to legislate the execution of Palestinian prisoners in its custody, flagrantly disregarding international law, particularly Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention, which prohibits the Detaining Power from committing any unlawful act or omission causing the death of a prisoner in its custody; Article 99, which stipulates that no prisoner of war may be tried or sentenced for an act not expressly forbidden by the law of the Detaining Power or by international law in force at the time the act was committed; and Article 100, which confirms that the death penalty may not be pronounced for any offense without the consent of the Power to which the prisoner belongs.
The acts Israel commits against Palestinian prisoners constitute war crimes under Article 85 of the First Protocol and Article 8 of the Rome Statute, as well as crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute.
Madam President, we urge you to call for a meeting of States Parties to the Geneva Conventions pursuant to Common Article 1 of the four Geneva Conventions and to take all necessary measures to put an end to Israel’s brutal practices against Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners and detainees, and to clarify the fate of many whose whereabouts remain unknown, thereby addressing a major aspect of the suffering of the Palestinian people.
History judges inaction harshly when confronted with such violations. It is our duty to act.
