Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Israeli settlement farmers in the
occupied West Bank are using Palestinian child laborers in dangerous
conditions in violation of international laws.
The New York-based group said in a report released on Monday that
Palestinian children as young as 11 years old work on Israeli settlement
farms to grow, harvest and pack agricultural produce, adding that most
of the harvested crop is later exported to Europe and the United States.
“Israel’s settlements are profiting from rights abuses against
Palestinian children,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Human Rights Watch’s
Middle East director.
Palestinian workers cut onions at a field belonging to Israeli settlers near the West Bank, Jordan Valley. (File photo)
According to the report, there are hundreds of children working in
Israeli agricultural settlements year-round, and the number rises during
harvest times.
The rights group said “children from communities impoverished by
Israel’s discrimination and settlement policies” are leaving school and
taking on dangerous work on the settlement farms as they felt they had
no alternative to help support their families.
The report said that, in a number of cases, the child workers “have
to pay themselves for medical treatment for work-related injuries or
illness.”
HRW condemned the Israeli practice of using child laborers, saying
the move is in violation of international laws, which protect children
from “being exploited economically and performing work that is likely to
be hazardous or interfere with the child’s schooling.”
The rights group called on Israel to dismantle the settlements on
occupied Palestinian lands, and, in the meantime, “prohibit settlers
from employing children in accordance with Israel’s obligations under
international treaties on children’s rights and labor rights.”
Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), among 2.4 million Palestinians.
source : here
Senin, 13 April 2015
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Terrorist israeli settlers violating int’l law by using Palestinian child laborers: HRW
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