Barely a few days before the world celebrates International Children’s Day on June 1, the United Nations has issued a warning over Israel’s recent legislative changes enabling courts to sentence Palestinian children as young as 12 to life in prison and allowing other measures that violate international laws.

The amendments, passed by the Israeli Knesset on November 7, 2024, have sparked outrage as they violate international human rights and humanitarian laws, with experts highlighting their disproportionate impact on Palestinian minors.

UN Special Procedures experts focused on two key changes: Amendment No. 25 to the Youth Law and Amendment No. 251 to the National Insurance Law. 

Both are deemed discriminatory and incompatible with treaties Israel has ratified, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Under the Youth Law amendment, children as young as 12 can receive life sentences for crimes labelled as “terrorism”, even if committed as part of a protest or unrest.

But international law experts say that “sentencing children to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is explicitly prohibited.”

Sumeyye Koman, a doctoral researcher in international law, says that “Israel’s current judicial practices toward Palestinian minors pose not just individual rights violations but amount to a serious challenge to the structural and normative foundations of international law.”

“This practice not only defies legal standards but is also widely regarded as a cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment that extinguishes a child’s hope for rehabilitation,” she tells TRT World.

Koman emphasises that international law’s approach to juvenile justice is founded not on punishment, but on the principles of protection, development, and reintegration into society.

Therefore, “life imprisonment for children is severely condemned on both legal and moral grounds,” she adds.

The law also allows the transfer of children to adult prisons at the age of 14, a violation of international law that prohibits detaining children with adults unless it is demonstrably in their best interest.

“Sending a 14-year-old to an adult prison is a flagrant violation of international human rights law in every respect,” Koman says.

Moreover, “placing children in adult prison conditions not only exposes them to serious risks such as physical violence, sexual abuse, and psychological trauma, but also pulls them away from child-focused restorative justice, into a punitive system,” Koman notes.

The UN has expressed concern that these changes override scientific understanding of child development and undermine children’s right to rehabilitation. It has noted that children aged 12-13 lack full cognitive maturity and should not face criminal proceedings, let alone life imprisonment.

The National Insurance Law amendment strips parents of social benefits, such as child allowances and education grants, if their child is imprisoned for offences classified as terrorism.

The UN has warned that this measure could disproportionately target Palestinian families and violate the right to social protection under international human rights laws.

Koman notes that “this regulation contradicts the right to social security protected under Article 9 of the ICESCR (which is also binding on Israel), as well as the obligation to ensure the welfare of children.”

From double standards to racial discrimination

Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children reflects a broader pattern of systemic racial discrimination. While Israeli Jewish children are prosecuted under civilian law, Palestinian children — especially those in East Jerusalem — are often tried under counterterrorism laws that impose significantly harsher penalties.

The issue lies at the core of Israel’s judicial system.

According to Koman, “trying Palestinian children in military courts while Israeli Jewish children are processed through civilian courts is a clear violation of the principle of non-discrimination.”

The UN has urged Israel to repeal both amendments, referring to the 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which found that Israel’s regime in the occupied Palestinian territories practised racial segregation and apartheid.

The world body’s statement reads, “Israel’s legislation and measures constitute a breach of Article 3 of CERD”, which requires Israel to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of racial segregation and apartheid. CERD stands for the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a UN panel.

Decades of military prosecution

The warning adds to years of UN and civil society concern over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children in detention.

Since 1967, Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank have been subject to Israeli military law, making them the only minors in the world consistently prosecuted in military courts.

Each year, an estimated 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are arrested, detained, and funnelled into Israel’s military legal system. The vast majority are boys aged 12-17. 

They are subjected to a system that allows criminal responsibility at the age of 12, contradicting international law, which defines a child as anyone under 18.

In 1991, the rights group Defense for Children International -  Palestine (DCIP) began documenting these detentions. Over the past two decades, the DCIP estimates that around 13,000 Palestinian children have experienced detention, interrogation, prosecution, and imprisonment within the military legal system of Israel.

The military courts routinely deny children access to lawyers or their parents during interrogations, and many are forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand. Rights groups say these practices violate the most basic standards of juvenile justice and due process.

Despite Israel’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, it rejects the treaty’s applicability to children in the occupied territories. 

Israel’s treatment of minors is marked by a host of violations: maintaining two separate legal systems in the same territory, detaining children within military courts, denying them legal assistance, forcibly transferring them out of occupied areas, and in many cases, committing crimes against humanity.

“Israel’s justification on grounds of public safety or deterrence has no merit unless the child’s specific best interest is clearly demonstrated—which is not the case here,” Koman says.

“International treaties, judicial precedent, and scientific evidence all converge on one truth: sentencing children to life imprisonment is both legally and morally indefensible,” she adds.

As the world celebrates children’s rights on June 1, Israel’s new laws make sure that not all children are afforded the same protections, especially those living under occupation.