Israeli holding facility for minors violates international child-protection law http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-holding-facility-for-minors-violates-international-child-protection-law-haaretz-learns-1.386694

A little more than a year since the reopening of an Israel Prison Service holding facility for unaccompanied minors, most of whom are refugees from Sudan and Eritrea, the prison service's own data reflects major problems at the facility - problems that constitute a violation of the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.

Haaretz has learned that since the facility has been in operation, there have been 19 serious suicide attempts among the 179 children that have been held there. Those 19 cases do not include other attempts that the authorities characterized as efforts to attract attention.Israeli holding facility for minors violates international child-protection law, Haaretz learnsHaaretz learns that 19 serious suicide attempts had taken place among the 179 children held, not including other attempts authorities characterized as efforts to attract attention.

The suicides were prevented due to the alertness of the staff at the facility, which is formally known in Hebrew as the "support facility for foreign unaccompanied youth." The site, which was opened following an examination of the detention of foreign children by the Knesset and the High Court of Justice, was established to avoid the prospect of detaining unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers at prisons for adults. In practice, however, it is run by the Israel Prison Service rather than social welfare or educational authorities.