Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, strongly condemns the murder crime of the two- years old child, Muhammad Tamim in Nabi Salih Village, north of Ramallah, on Monday 5/6/2023. The child was killed due to the arbitrary shooting towards a Palestinian vehicle while stopping in front of the house where the child was shot deadly in the head and the father was shot in his shoulder. SHAMS Center stresses that the current crime is an extension of the occupation’s unjustified systematic crimes against Palestinian children, especially that the child was shot dead while being with the father in his car in front of their house, at the time that there were no clashes around.
SHAMS Center asserts that the crime stands as state organized terrorism and violation of the International Human Rights Law; particularly Geneva Fourth Convention that protects children under armed conflicts. The Convention urges states parties to exclude children from the armed conflicts for being civilians and being groups that have no business with the armed conflicts. Additionally, targeting children violates the Convention on Child Rights as one of the International Human Rights Law Instruments.
SHAMS Center stresses that the continuation of crimes against Palestinian children is a result of the policy of evasion of punishment, enjoyed by the Israeli army, as Israeli criminals are neither held accountable locally nor internationally for their actions. The impunity that Israeli criminals enjoy, interpret the international double standards in dealing with the human rights violations. Addressing human rights became based on the nationality of the victim and so the nationality of the perpetrator, but not on the base that the crime itself is violation of the international human rights law.
SHAMS Center urges the local and international legal organizations involved in advocating child right, to pursue their legal and moral responsibilities and utilize all the available legal tools to ensure protecting Palestinian children against the crimes of the occupation. Additionally, the Center demands addressing the murder crimes of Palestinian children by the International Criminal Court in Hague, in order to ensure litigating the Israeli war criminals for their crimes against Palestinian innocent children. There is a need to stress that those who commit crimes against Palestinian children, would not enjoy impunity but will be accounted according to the international human rights law.
SHAMS Center calls upon local, Arabic, and international organizations and groups to arrange peaceful assemblies in front of the United Nations Organizations’ premises, to urge for protecting Palestinian children. Such assemblies should be dedicated to lobby some organizations like UNICEF as well as lobbying the Secretary- General of the United Nations, to take immediate practical measures and account the occupation state for violating Palestinian Children’s human rights
END