Addameer participates in UN Convention Against Torture Review

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is currently participating in the review of the occupying state at the 57th session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT), held at the United Nations in Geneva from 2 - 4 May 2016. Addameer, along with other NGOs, has delivered a statement in front of the Committee members covering the issue of administrative detention as a policy practiced by the Israeli forces in which Palestinians are held indefinitely with no charge or trial. Addameer has argued that administrative detention must be considered as a form of psychological torture due to lack of fair trial guarantees, as well as its indefinite nature, where orders can be renewed every six months with no upper limit. As a result, the detainee may develop severe depression, anxiety, paralyzed personality and dysfunctional cognitive due to not knowing the reason behind the detention and is denied access to the secret evidence. It is worth mentioning that Addameer, along with other Palestinian human rights organizations, has submitted a shadow report to the Committee expressing its grave concern about the continued, widespread and systematic use of torture and ill-treatment that accompanies the mass arrest, interrogation, detention and trial by military court of Palestinians from the OPT, who are detained in prisons run by Israel Security Agency (ISA). The report has also covered numerous issues such as, forcible transfer, extrajudicial killing and the withholding of bodies of deceased Palestinians. Finally, the report has explained how the UN Convention Against torture, ratified by the Israeli government on 3 Oct 1991, has been violated by the occupying state over many years. Additionally, the report has addressed that the submission of the Israeli government to CAT appears woefully inadequate in dealing with the situation on the ground, considering the deteriorating human rights that has developed since October 2015.