I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2407 

To promote human rights for Palestinian children living under Israeli military 

occupation and require that United States funds do not support military 

detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2019 

Ms. MCCOLLUM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote human rights for Palestinian children living 

under Israeli military occupation and require that United 

States funds do not support military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Human 

5 Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Mili6 tary Occupation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Children are entitled to special protections 

4 and due process rights under international human 

5 rights law and international humanitarian law, re6 gardless of guilt or innocence or the gravity of an al7 leged offense. 

8 (2) The Government of Israel and its military 

9 detains around 500 to 700 Palestinian children be10 tween the ages of 12 and 17 each year and pros11 ecutes them before a military court system that 

12 lacks basic and fundamental guarantees of due proc13 ess in violation of international standards. 

14 (3) Israel has ratified the Convention on the 

15 Rights of the Child, which states— 

16 (A) in article 37(a), that ‘‘no child shall be 

17 subject to torture or other cruel, inhuman or 

18 degrading treatment or punishment’’; 

19 (B) in article 37(b), that the arrest, deten20 tion or imprisonment of a child ‘‘shall be used 

21 only as a measure of last resort and for the 

22 shortest appropriate period of time’’; 

23 (C) in article 37(c), that ‘‘every child de24 prived of liberty shall be treated with humanity 

25 and respect for the inherent dignity of the 

26 human person, and in a manner which takes 


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1 into account the needs of persons of his or her 

2 age’’; and 

3 (D) in article 37(d), that ‘‘[e]very child de4 prived of his or her liberty shall have the right 

5 to prompt access to legal and other appropriate 

6 assistance, as well as the right to challenge the 

7 legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty 

8 before a court or other competent, independent 

9 and impartial authority, and to a prompt deci10 sion on any such action’’. 

11 (4) In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, there 

12 are two separate legal systems, with Israeli military 

13 law imposed on Palestinians and Israeli civilian law 

14 applied to Israeli settlers. 

15 (5) Approximately 2,900,000 Palestinians live 

16 in the West Bank, of which around 45 percent are 

17 children under the age of 18, who have lived their 

18 entire lives under Israeli military occupation. 

19 (6) Since 2000, more than 10,000 Palestinian 

20 children have been subject to the Israeli military 

21 court system. 

22 (7) Israeli security forces detain children under 

23 the age of 12 for interrogation for extended periods 

24 of time even though prosecution of children under 

25 12 is prohibited by Israeli military law. 


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1 (8) Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 

2 2018, reported that Israeli Security Forces detained 

3 Palestinian children ‘‘often using unnecessary force, 

4 questioned them without a family member present, 

5 and made them sign confessions in Hebrew, which 

6 most did not understand’’. 

7 (9) Human Rights Watch documented, in a 

8 July 2015 report titled ‘‘Israel: Security Forces 

9 Abuse Palestinian Children’’, that such detentions 

10 also included the use of chokeholds, beatings, and 

11 coercive interrogation on children between the ages 

12 of 11 and 15 years. 

13 (10) The Israeli human rights organization 

14 B’Tselem issued a report in 2018 describing the 

15 treatment of Palestinian children under Israeli mili16 tary occupation: ‘‘Every year, hundreds of Pales17 tinian minors undergo the same scenario. Israeli se18 curity forces pick them up on the street or at home 

19 in the middle of the night, then handcuff and blind20 fold them and transport them to interrogation, often 

21 subjecting them to violence en route. Exhausted and 

22 scared—some having spent a long time in transit, 

23 some having been roused from sleep, some having 

24 had nothing to eat or drink for hours—the minors 

25 are then interrogated. They are completely alone in 


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1 there, cut off from the world, without any adult they 

2 know and trust by their side, and without having 

3 been given a chance to consult with a lawyer before 

4 the interrogation. The interrogation itself often in5 volves threats, yelling, verbal abuse and sometimes 

6 physical violence. Its sole purpose is to get the mi7 nors to confess or provide information about oth8 ers.’’. 

9 (11) The United Nations Children’s Fund 

10 (UNICEF) concluded, in a February 2013 report ti11 tled ‘‘Children in Israeli Military Detention’’, that 

12 the ‘‘ill-treatment of children who come in contact 

13 with the military detention system appears to be 

14 widespread, systematic and institutionalized 

15 throughout the process, from the moment of arrest 

16 until the child’s prosecution and eventual conviction 

17 and sentencing’’. 

18 (12) The 2013 UNICEF report further deter19 mines that the Israeli system of military detention of 

20 Palestinian children profoundly deviates from inter21 national norms, stating that ‘‘in no other country 

22 are children systematically tried by juvenile military 

23 courts that, by definition, fall short of providing the 

24 necessary guarantees to ensure respect for their 

25 rights’’. 


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1 (13) UNICEF also released reports in October 

2 2013 and February 2015 noting that Israeli authori3 ties have, since March 2013, issued new military or4 ders and taken steps to reinforce existing military 

5 and police standard operating procedures relating to 

6 the detention of Palestinian children. However, the 

7 reports still found continued and persistent evidence 

8 of ill-treatment of Palestinian children detained by 

9 Israeli forces. 

10 (14) In 2013, the annual Country Report on 

11 Human Rights Practices for Israel and the Occupied 

12 Territories (‘‘Annual Report’’) published by the De13 partment of State noted that Israeli security services 

14 continued to abuse, and in some cases torture mi15 nors, frequently arrested on suspicion of stone16 throwing, in order to coerce confessions. The torture 

17 tactics used included threats, intimidation, long-term 

18 handcuffing, beatings, and solitary confinement. 

19 (15) The State Department’s 2013 Annual Re20 port also stated that ‘‘signed confessions by Pales21 tinian minors, written in Hebrew, a language most 

22 could not read, continued to be used as evidence 

23 against them in Israeli military courts’’. 

24 (16) The State Department’s 2016 Annual Re25 port noted a ‘‘significant increase in detentions of 


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1 minors’’ in 2016, and that ‘‘Israeli authorities con2 tinued to use confessions signed by Palestinian mi3 nors, written in Hebrew’’. It also highlighted the re4 newed use of ‘‘administrative detention’’ against Pal5 estinians, including children, a practice in which a 

6 detainee may be held indefinitely, without charge or 

7 trial, by the order of a military commander or other 

8 government official. 

9 (17) The nongovernmental organization De10 fense for Children International Palestine collected 

11 affidavits from 739 West Bank children who were 

12 detained between 2013 and 2018, and concluded 

13 that— 

14 (A) 73 percent of the children endured 

15 physical violence following arrest; 

16 (B) under Israeli military law, children do 

17 not have the right to a lawyer during interroga18 tion; 

19 (C) 96 percent of the children did not have 

20 a parent present during their interrogation; 

21 (D) 74 percent of the children were not 

22 properly informed of their rights by Israeli po23 lice; 


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1 (E) interrogators used stress positions, 

2 threats of violence, and isolation to coerce con3 fessions from detained children; 

4 (F) 29 children were detained and placed 

5 in administrative detention, or detention with6 out charge or trial, since Israel renewed the 

7 practice against minors in October 2015, and 

8 (G) 122 children were held in pre-trial, 

9 pre-charge isolation for interrogation purposes 

10 for an average period of 13 days. 

11 (18) Amendments to Israeli military law con12 cerning the detention of Palestinian children have 

13 had little to no impact on the treatment of children 

14 during the first 24 to 48 hours after an arrest, when 

15 the majority of their ill-treatment occurs. 

16 (19) In 2013, the United Nations Committee 

17 on the Rights of the Child reviewed Israel’s compli18 ance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child 

19 and declared that Palestinian children arrested by 

20 Israeli forces ‘‘continue to be systematically subject 

21 to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture’’ 

22 and that Israel had ‘‘fully disregarded’’ the previous 

23 recommendations of the Committee to comply with 

24 international law. 


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1 (20) The United Nations Committee Against 

2 Torture, in 2016, reviewed Israel’s compliance with 

3 the Convention Against Torture and reported: ‘‘alle4 gations of many instances in which Palestinian mi5 nors were exposed to torture or ill-treatment, includ6 ing to obtain confessions; were given confessions to 

7 sign in Hebrew, a language they do not understand; 

8 and were interrogated in the absence of a lawyer or 

9 a family member. The Committee is also concerned 

10 that many of these children, like many other Pal11 estinians, are deprived of liberty in facilities located 

12 in Israel, thus hindering access to visits of relatives 

13 who live in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.’’. 

14 (21) Existing Federal statutory provisions 

15 known as the ‘‘Leahy law’’ codified at section 620M 

16 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 22 U.S.C. 

17 2378d and section 362 of Title 10 of the United 

18 States Code, prohibit the United States Government 

19 from using funds for assistance to units of foreign 

20 security forces where there is credible information 

21 implicating that unit in the commission of gross vio22 lations of human rights, including torture. 

23 (22) The United States provides in excess of 

24 $3.8 billion in annual foreign military assistance to 

25 the Government of Israel which enables the military 


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1 detention and abuse of Palestinian children by 

2 Israel’s military system of juvenile detention. 

3 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

4 The purpose of this Act is to promote and protect 

5 the human rights of Palestinian children living under 

6 Israeli military occupation. 

7 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) the detention, prosecution, and ill-treatment 

10 of Palestinian children living under military occupa11 tion in a military court system that lacks basic and 

12 fundamental guarantees of due process by the Gov13 ernment of Israel— 

14 (A) violates international law and inter15 nationally recognized standards of human 

16 rights; 

17 (B) is contrary to the values of the Amer18 ican people and the efforts of the United States 

19 to support equality, human rights, and dignity 

20 for both Palestinians and Israelis; and 

21 (C) undermines efforts by the United 

22 States and the international community to 

23 achieve a just and lasting peace between Israel 

24 and the Palestinian people; and 


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1 (2) Israeli and Palestinian civil society organi2 zations working to advance human rights, justice, 

3 and equal treatment for Palestinians living under 

4 Israeli military occupation, as well as Jewish and 

5 non-Jewish citizens of Israel, are essential to pro6 moting human dignity, democratic values, and inter7 national humanitarian law, and therefore deserve 

8 recognition and support from the United States and 

9 the American people. 

10 SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

11 It is the policy of the United States to promote 

12 human rights for Palestinian children living under Israeli 

13 military occupation and to declare Israel’s system of mili14 tary detention of Palestinian children as a practice that 

15 results in widespread and systematic human rights abuses 

16 amounting to gross violations of human rights inconsistent 

17 with international humanitarian law and the laws and val18 ues of the United States. 

19 SEC. 6. LIMITATION ON ASSISTANCE TO SECURITY FORCES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 620M of the Foreign As21 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2378d; commonly known 

22 as the ‘‘Leahy Law’’) is amended by adding at the end 

23 the following new subsection: 

24 ‘‘(e) SPECIFIC LIMITATIONS CONCERNING MILITARY

25 COURTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 


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1 funds authorized to be appropriated for assistance to a 

2 foreign country may be used to support the military deten3 tion, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of children in 

4 violation of international humanitarian law or to support 

5 the use against children of any of the following practices: 

6 ‘‘(1) Torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading 

7 treatment. 

8 ‘‘(2) Physical violence, including restraint in 

9 stress positions. 

10 ‘‘(3) Hooding, sensory deprivation, death 

11 threats, or other forms of psychological abuse. 

12 ‘‘(4) Incommunicado detention or solitary con13 finement. 

14 ‘‘(5) Administrative detention, including when a 

15 detainee is held indefinitely, without charge or trial, 

16 by the order of a military commander or other gov17 ernment official. 

18 ‘‘(6) Arbitrary detention. 

19 ‘‘(7) Denial of access to parents or legal counsel 

20 during interrogations. 

21 ‘‘(8) Confessions obtained by force or coer22 cion.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS TO MONITOR HUMAN 

2 RIGHTS ABUSES AND PROVIDE TREATMENT 

3 TO PALESTINIAN CHILD VICTIMS OF MILI4 TARY DETENTION AND TORTURE. 

5 (a) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro6 priated not less than $19,000,000 each fiscal year to the 

7 Secretary of State to be made available to nongovern8 mental organizations from the United States, Israel, or 

9 the Occupied Palestinian Territory for the following pur10 poses: 

11 (1) MONITORING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES ASSO12 CIATED WITH ISRAEL’S MILITARY DETENTION OF

13 PALESTINIAN CHILDREN.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Nongovernment organi15 zations with human rights experience are eligi16 ble to receive funding under this subsection. 

17 Such funding shall be used to monitor, assess, 

18 and document incidents of Palestinian children 

19 subjected to Israeli military detention, including 

20 interviews with victims, family members of vic21 tims, relevant community members, health care 

22 providers, legal advocates, civil society monitors, 

23 and Israeli military officials. 

24 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—All informa25 tion and documentation gathered pursuant to 

26 subparagraph (A), including affidavits, interVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 May 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2407.IH H2407

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1 views, photographs, video, and other relevant 

2 material, shall be made publicly available via 

3 the internet and in annual reports subject to 

4 the determination that published information 

5 shall not put victims or sources at risk or in 

6 danger resulting from persecution, retaliation, 

7 or retribution. 

8 (C) LIMITATION.—Funding under this 

9 paragraph may not exceed 50 percent of total 

10 funds authorized to be appropriated under this 

11 subsection. 

12 (2) PROVIDING PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, 

13 AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH TREATMENT, SUPPORT, 

14 AND REHABILITATION FOR PALESTINIAN CHILDREN

15 VICTIMS OF MILITARY DETENTION, ABUSE, AND

16 TORTURE.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Nongovernmental orga18 nizations with experience in providing physical, 

19 psychological, and emotional treatment for vic20 tims of abuse, trauma, or torture described in 

21 subparagraph (B) are eligible to receive funding 

22 under this subsection. Such funding shall be 

23 provided to a collaboration of United States, 

24 Israeli, and Palestinian treatment providers de25 termined by the Secretary of State to be best 


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1 suited to meet the rehabilitation needs of vic2 tims. No member of any nongovernmental orga3 nization providing treatment under this para4 graph may be employed or act as an agent or 

5 behalf of an intelligence agency of the United 

6 States, Israel, or the Palestinian Authority. 

7 (B) ELIGIBILITY.—Victims described in 

8 this subparagraph are any Palestinian age 21 

9 or younger providing documentation of military 

10 detention as a child having occurred since Jan11 uary 1, 2009. 

12 (C) REPORTING.—As a condition on the 

13 receipt of funding under this subsection, non14 governmental organizations shall issue an an15 nual public report of activities, including find16 ings and a clinical assessment of the physical 

17 and psychological effects of military detention 

18 on children, adolescents, and adults who experi19 ence trauma as children, and recommendations 

20 to the international community regarding best 

21 practices for treating child victims of military 

22 detention. 

23 (b) PROGRAM NAME.—Amounts made available pur24 suant to subsection (a) shall be referred to as the ‘‘Human 


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1 Rights Monitoring and Treatment for Palestinian Child 

2 Victims of Israeli Military Detention Fund’’. 

Æ 


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