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Women imprisoned – Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

By 
<http://palestinethinktank.com/author/guest-post/>Guest 
Post • Mar 10th, 2010 at 16:13 •

8 March 2010

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights 
Association marks International Women’s Day 2010 
by honoring, commemorating and saluting 
Palestinian women political prisoners and 
detainees in their steadfast resistance against 
Israeli colonial occupation and struggle towards 
securing the right of Palestinians to self-determination.

An estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been 
arrested and detained since 1967 under Israeli 
military orders, which govern nearly every aspect 
of life in the occupied Palestinian territory 
today, including more than 750 Palestinian women 
arrested by Israel between the years 2000-2009. 
While the call to end violence and arbitrary 
detention against women around the world should 
take place 365 days a year, Addameer would like 
to take a moment today to reflect upon and 
recognize the plight of Palestinian women and 
their unique experiences of colonial violence 
within Israel’s prison system and unlawful regime of colonial occupation.

As of March 2010, there remain 34 Palestinian 
women held in Israel’s prisons and detention 
centers, including three women held under 
administrative detention, eight women held 
pending trial and 23 women serving a sentence of 
imprisonment, of whom five are serving life 
(including multiple life) sentences. Both of the 
prisons that hold the majority of Palestinian 
female detainees, HaSharon and Damon Prisons, are 
located outside the 1967 occupied territory, in 
direct contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth 
Geneva Convention, which provides that, as an 
Occupying Power, Israel must detain residents of 
the occupied territory in prisons inside the 
occupied territory. The practical consequence of 
this unlawful transfer is that many prisoners 
have difficulty meeting with their Palestinian 
defense counsel and do not receive family visits 
as their attorneys and relatives are most often 
denied permits on “security grounds” not disclosed to them.

In addition, both HaSharon and Damon Prisons lack 
a gender-sensitive approach and, as such, female 
prisoners detained there suffer from harsh 
imprisonment conditions and interlocking systems 
of oppression which are enacted through medical 
negligence, denial of education, denial of family 
visits, solitary confinement, and overcrowded 
cells. A majority of these cells are infested 
with insects, dirty, and lack adequate 
ventilation and natural light. Personal health 
and hygiene needs are rarely addressed by the 
Israeli Prison Service, even in cases involving 
the detention of pregnant female detainees.

Other forms of abuse perpetrated against 
Palestinian women detainees and prisoners include 
numerous forms of sexual harassment, namely: 
threats of rape (in some cases threats of rape 
are made towards the detainee’s family members), 
sexually degrading insults, and invasive 
body/strip searches used as a method of 
punishment. These occurrences are a fundamental 
part of Palestinian women’s prison experiences 
and should be understood as a common and 
systematic form of racial and gendered State violence.

Moreover, research has shown that Israel’s prison 
authorities use these forms of sexual harassment 
to deliberately exploit Palestinian women’s fears 
by playing on patriarchal norms as well as gender 
stereotypes within particular customs of 
Palestinian society. Accordingly, occurrences of 
sexual harassment are a sensitive issue for 
Palestinian women and their families; this 
vulnerability makes these measures especially 
effective tools for interrogators, and is 
compounded by the lack of available post-assault resources.

Addameer submits that Israel’s routine practice 
of strip searching female prisoners and detainees 
as a method of punishment violates both 
international human rights and humanitarian law, 
including the UN Convention against Torture and 
other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment, as well as the International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates 
in Article 7 that: “No one shall be subjected to 
torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading 
treatment or punishment
”. Similarly, Article 
3(1)(c) of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) 
forbids“outrages upon personal dignity, in 
particular humiliating and degrading treatment”.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights 
Association condemns the use of all measures of 
abuse Israeli actors use against female prisoners 
and detainees, and calls for the immediate 
release of all Palestinian political prisoners 
held unlawfully outside the occupied Palestinian 
territory. Addameer further calls for an 
immediate stop to Israel’s practices of sexual 
violence, including strip searches and invasive 
body searches, shackling of pregnant women during 
labor, and use of threats and/or other forms of 
sexual assault. In addition, Israeli authorities, 
in particular the Prison Service, must meet their 
obligations under the UN Minimum Standard Rules 
for the Treatment of Prisoners and ensure that 
all subjects under Israeli jurisdiction are 
granted their full rights to formal education for 
girls under the age of 18, (including access to 
books and study materials inside the prisons), 
nutritional diet programs, especially for 
pregnant detainees, health care including 
specialized gynecological services, 
hospital/doctor visits when required, dental 
care, and open family visits (especially for 
mothers of minors). Of particular importance, 
Addameer demands that female prisoners and 
detainees be provided unhindered access to 
religious, cultural and gender sensitive social 
services, including trained Arabic-speaking women 
specialist in the field of social work, 
psychology and counseling. It is important to 
note that these rights and services must be 
administered only by Palestinians; as such, the 
Israeli authorities and the Israel Prison Service 
must grant full, unhindered access to Palestinian 
programs and service providers in this regard.

On International Women's Day 2010, Addameer 
stands in solidarity with Palestinian political 
prisoners and detainees who remain strong in 
their resistance against Israel’s colonial 
occupation regime, and asks the international 
community for its continued support and solidarity all year round.

For more information on female prisoners, please 
visit: <http://www.addameer.info/>www.addameer.info or contact:


Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
PO Box 17338, Jerusalem
Tel: +972 (0)2 296 0446
Fax: +972 (0)2 296 0447
Email: <mailto:info at addameer.ps>info at addameer.ps




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