ADDAMEER: The UN blacklisting of the occupying power “Israel” for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence is a significant step, but accountability and concrete international action remain essential.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is following the report of the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, on conflict-related sexual violence, which included the listing of the occupying power, "Israel," on the UN blacklist of states and entities responsible for committing grave violations involving sexual violence in the context of armed conflicts. While Addameer views this step as a belated acknowledgment of part of the crimes and violations committed by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians, it emphasizes that this measure, despite its importance, cannot substitute for genuine accountability, effective prosecution, the imposition of deterrent international sanctions, and an end to the culture of impunity that the occupying power has enjoyed for decades.

For many years, and particularly since the beginning of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, Palestinian human rights organizations, including Addameer, have documented hundreds of testimonies and statements revealing horrifying patterns of violations and crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees inside Israeli prisons, detention camps, and interrogation centers. These crimes have included various forms of physical and psychological torture, sexual assaults, systematic humiliation, forced stripping, threats of rape, sexual harassment, rape, and the use of sexual violence as a tool of abuse, repression, and the breaking of detainees' will.

Since 7 October 2023, the occupation authorities have escalated their retaliatory policies against Palestinian prisoners to an unprecedented level, turning prisons into spaces of collective punishment and systematic torture as part of a broader war targeting Palestinian existence and dignity. Prisons and detention centers have witnessed a catastrophic deterioration in detention conditions, including the deprivation of adequate food, reductions in water supplies to life-threatening levels, denial of medical treatment and healthcare, the imposition of collective and individual isolation, confiscation of basic necessities, prolonged bans on family visits and lawyer meetings, as well as daily assaults involving beatings, abuse, and humiliation.

These policies have led to a dangerous increase in the number of deaths among Palestinian prisoners. Since 1967, a total of 326 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons and detention centers, reflecting the systematic nature of the crimes committed against Palestinian detainees. Since the beginning of the genocide in October 2023, prisoners organizations have documented the deaths of 89 Palestinian prisoners and detainees inside Israeli prisons, military camps, and detention facilities, the highest documented toll within such a short period compared with previous periods. This comes amid continued Israeli secrecy and refusal to disclose the fate of many detainees, particularly those from the Gaza Strip.

What Palestinian prisoners are experiencing today can only be described as part of the genocidal war waged by the occupying power against the Palestinian people. This war is not limited to killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip but extends into prisons and detention centers, where thousands of prisoners are subjected to harsh and inhumane conditions designed to inflict physical and psychological harm and subjugate them by force.

Addameer stresses that the findings contained in the UN Secretary-General's report on sexual violence represent only one aspect of a broader system of crimes and violations committed by the occupying power against Palestinians. International recognition of these violations must be translated into practical and tangible measures, including independent and comprehensive international investigations, the prosecution of Israeli officials before international courts, the imposition of political, diplomatic, and economic sanctions on the occupying power, and the suspension of all forms of military and political support that enable it to continue committing its crimes.

Over recent months, Palestinian human rights organizations have invested significant efforts in documenting crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees. They have issued dozens of reports, statements, and submitted urgent appeals to the United Nations and its various bodies, to the states parties to the Geneva Conventions, and to international human rights organizations. These organizations have also provided detailed evidence and testimonies concerning serious violations suffered by prisoners, including torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, killing, and deliberate medical neglect.

Despite the volume of evidence and the exceptional gravity of these crimes, the international response has remained far below the level of legal and moral responsibility required. Verbal condemnations and UN reports, despite their significance, have failed to stop the crimes, protect the victims, or ensure accountability. This international failure has encouraged the occupation authorities to continue and escalate their violations against Palestinian prisoners without fear of genuine consequences.

Addameer calls upon the international community, the United Nations, the states parties to the Geneva Conventions, and the International Criminal Court to investigate the crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners as international crimes requiring urgent and effective action. The organization further demands the dispatch of independent international fact-finding missions to Israeli detention facilities, guaranteed access for relevant international bodies to prisoners and detainees, disclosure of the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared, and the immediate release of prisoners whose lives are at risk due to torture or denial of medical treatment.

Addameer emphasizes that justice is not achieved merely by placing the Israeli occupying power on international blacklists or documenting its crimes in UN reports. Justice is achieved when those responsible for these crimes are held accountable and prosecuted, when necessary sanctions are imposed to deter future violations, and when victims obtain their full rights to compensation, redress, justice, and reparation.

The continuation of international silence and the failure to take concrete action directly contribute to the ongoing suffering of Palestinian prisoners and provide the occupation with cover to continue its crimes. Accordingly, the international community is today more than ever required to move beyond monitoring, documentation, and condemnation toward meaningful action, accountability, and genuine pressure to end the ongoing crimes against Palestinian prisoners and to put an end to the systematic and continuous policies of torture, sexual violence, killing, and enforced disappearance practiced by the occupying power.