Protecting Palestinian Children from Political Violence: The Role of the International Community

This document reviews how the violence associated with occupation affects Palestinian children and then comments on how the United Nations (UN) and international agencies have worked to protect these children. Based upon field-based research conducted during 2009, the authors analyse what they call the failure of the donors, UN agencies, and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) to ensure proper protection of Palestinian children from the political violence of the Israeli government and settlers. They attribute it to an array of factors that are conceptual, institutional, and political in nature.

The document identifies numerous conceptual challenges and problems, including (1) the need to characterise the situation of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) as a "human rights and protection crisis in which efforts to deliver aid and support must be accompanied by efforts at the political level" and (2) the negative influence of globalised thinking about child protection in which a mental health / social work paradigm predominates. As stated here, international child protection has been standardised with a universalised and technocratic approach that results in a "lack of engagement with structural and cultural issues and a "depoliticised approach...at odds with the demands of a human rights and protection crisis as found in the oPt. Furthermore, the resulting approach does not meet the values, concerns and aspirations of many Palestinians surrounding the protection of children....An approach to child protection focused on response to harm rather than prevention currently prevails in the oPt."

The document recommends political engagement aimed to address violations of international law. At present such an approach to child protection is constrained by the geopolitical considerations of donor governments, especially the United States (US). Recommended steps for a multi-level approach are termed "complex and inter-related". For INGOs, including US and United Kingdom bilaterals, and UN agencies, they include the following communication-related aspects:

• engagement with Palestinian children and their caregivers about their experiences, understanding, and aspirations around protection (i.e., “not a tick-box survey of predetermined issues”);
  
• co-analysis by Palestinian, international, and intergovernmental organisations to reach a consensual understanding that embraces local experience and aspiration as well as: (i) international legal standards, international human rights law (IHRL), and international humanitarian law (IHL); (ii) current global thinking on child protection; and (iii) the means of achieving prevention as well as response;
  
• engaging expertise on mental health and social work in the Palestinian context, including from the perspectives of international relations, anthropology, and political economy;
  
• advocacy and awareness-raising measures pursued in a more concerted way;
  
• reviewing funding sources from the perspective of ensuring maximum potential to pursue a principled approach to children’s protection;
  
• evaluating the work of child protection organisations in terms of their impact in mitigating and preventing harm to Palestinian children arising from political violence - especially the effects of occupation-related violence.

From a donor perspective, communication-related aspects might include:

• "...the context of the oPt as one of development and state-building with elements of humanitarian aid should be re-examined: serious consideration should be given to framing the oPt as a long-term human rights and protection crisis requiring both a principled approach by donors and their engagement in political action...";
  
• the rights of children as members of a Palestinian national community should also be addressed; this should include a focus on adherence to the aim and principles of self-determination;
  
• "...recipients should be evaluated in terms of their capacity to implement a principled approach to children’s protection that not only mitigates the impact of harm; but seeks to prevent this from occurring through efforts at advocacy";
  
• "the shift of funds away from civil society by donors... should be re-evaluated urgently”;
  
• "[t]here should be greater support and encouragement for efforts to monitor Israeli institutions in which Palestinian children’s rights are regularly violated, such as courts, prisons, and police stations";
  
• "[d]onors should focus more concertedly on the situation of children in East Jerusalem and Area ‘C’ (under full Israeli control), supporting recipient organisations to gain access and challenging Israeli restrictions on the basis of international law."