Palestinian Children and Youth’s Rights Under Apartheid
We are grateful for our event ,Palestinian Children and Youth’s Rights Under Apartheid, organized in in collaboration with Palestine: Filmer C’est Exister, and many collectives of the Geneva Graduate Institute. The event produced a thoughtful, reflexive and critical analysis of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with a special emphasis on the situation and future of Palestinian children.
Out of all the discussion, the following three statements, by some of the panellists, perfectly highlighted the pressing situation Palestinians face on an everyday basis:
- “Palestinian children are experiencing a phenomenon of ‘un-childing’. What kind of faith in the law are we leaving Palestinians with” – Francesca Albanese (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories)
- “Bureaucracy is designed to maintain a system of oppression and is part of a large legal practice to make apartheid invisible. This is a form of daily invisible violence” – Budour Hassan (Amnesty International)
- “Humiliation, torture and killings are a way to extinguish hope for the next generation of Palestinians” – Khaled Quzmar (DCI-Palestine)
During the event, 3 short films were screened and discussed. The films were the following:
- Obaida (2019), 8min. Dir: Mathew Cassel. Defence for Children International
- Ruwad: Palestinian Child Spends 28 Days in Solitary Confinement2022, 8min. Defence for Children International
- Sard 2019, 8min. Dir: Zeina Ramadan. Shashat Women Cinema
These screening was followed by a discussion with the following experts:
- Alex Kamarotos, Director, Defence for Children International (DCI)
- Khaled Quzmar, Director, DCI-Palestine
- Budour Hassan, Amnesty International
- Francesca Albanese (video), UN Special Rapporteur on oPt
- Prof. Riccardo Bocco, IHEID, Moderator
Thank you to all the organisers, panellists and everyone that joined us live and online.
