ISRAELI occupation forces kill, maim, orphan and detain hundreds of children in Palestine every year, United Nations human rights expert Francesca Albanese said.

“The oppression and trauma suffered by Palestinian children, half of the Palestinian population under Israeli rule, is a unique stain on the international community,” Albanese said as she presented her report at the UN General Assembly on October 24.

Special rapporteurs like Albanese are part of the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council.

Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system, is the general name of the council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanism. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.

Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis – they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary. They work independently of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacities.

Albanese’s report did not cover the horrific events since October 7, but it said up to October 6, 1,434 Palestinian children were killed, with an additional 32,175 hurt, primarily by Israeli authorities.

Of these, 1,025 children have been killed in Gaza since the unlawful blockade in 2007. In the same period, 25 Israeli children were killed, mostly by Palestinian assailants, and 524 were injured.

Five hundred to seven hundred Palestinian children were reportedly detained by Israeli occupation forces each year, with an estimated 13,000 mostly arbitrarily detained, interrogated, tried in military courts and imprisoned since 2000.

Albanese detailed Palestinian kids’ daily experiences of violence through the confiscation of family land and expropriation of resources, separation of communities, destruction of homes and livelihoods, and attacks on their education.

She said generations of Palestinian children, whether in the besieged Gaza Strip, the West Bank enclaves or annexed East Jerusalem, have seen their lives reduced to the bare minimum and, far too often, cut short as expendable.

Israel’s rhetoric and practices, framing Palestinian children as “human shields” or “terrorists” to justify the violence against them and their parents – often amplified in western discourse – dehumanise Palestinian children.

“This is profoundly ‘unchilding’,” she said.

Albanese must be lost for words that she coined a new one: “unchild”. To unchild is to take away the lightness of childhood and rob children of their future.

Palestinian children have been “unchilded from birth” since at least 2008, if not earlier.

One of the most troubling requests Albanese heard from Palestinian children was why the world continues to neglect them.

“Are Palestinian children less worthy? Are we less human?” asked the children.

What do we tell them? The children are awaiting our response. – November 3, 2023.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.