The Acts of Convention

House of Deputies

The House of Deputies Committee on Social Justice and International Policy presented its Report #11 on Resolution C038 (Safeguard the Rights of Palestinian Children) and moved adoption of a substitute.

Original Text of Resolution:

(C038)

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 79th General Convention call upon the Office of Government Relations to request assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that their governments have policies in place to accord all people under the age of 18 living within their jurisdictions the full range of rights and protections called for under international agreements to which their governments have subscribed; and be it further

Resolved, That the 79th General Convention direct the Office of Government Relations to call upon U.S. leaders in the Executive and Legislative branches to persuade their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts to sustain their commitments to international law with regard to children’s rights and welfare, specifically Article 37 of the “United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

Committee Substitute:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 79th General Convention call upon the Office of Government Relations to request assurances from the Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian Authority President that their governments have policies in place to accord all people under the age of 18 living within their jurisdictions the full range of rights and protections called for under international agreements to which their governments have subscribed; and be it further

Resolved, That the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church call on the State of Israel to guarantee basic rights and exercise a prohibition against torture and ill-treatment of detained children (defined as persons under 18 years old), noting that among the practices in Israel’s military detention system that require change are, including but not limited to, the use of nighttime arrests in the child’s home, physical and verbal abuse, blindfolds and restraints, strip searches, solitary confinement, coerced confessions and confessions written in Hebrew, as well as the separation of detained children from their parents and legal counselors (including the transfer of Palestinian children to prisons within the State of Israel that their parents are not permitted to visit); and be it further

Resolved, That the 79th General Convention request the Secretary of this Convention and the Office of Government Relations to communicate this call to the Prime Minister of Israel and the Israeli Ambassador to the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That the 79th General Convention call on the Secretary of State of the United States to certify annually that no funds obligated or expended in the previous year by the United States for assistance to Israel have been used to support the military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children in violation of international humanitarian law; and be it further

Resolved, That the 79th General Convention requests the Office of Government Relations to communicate this call to the Secretary of State of the United States as well as the President, Vice President, and the United States Senate.

A vote was taken on resolution C038.

Motion carried

Substitute resolution adopted

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #300)