The Day of the Palestinian Child April 2026.
We marked this day with an event focusing on Palestinian child prisoners, over 350 of whom are currently imprisoned by Israel.
Imprisonment of children is not a new phenomenon: for decades DCIP (Defence for Children International: Palestine) has been documenting and challenging the discriminatory and brutal treatment of Palestinian youngsters through a system of military courts.
Before Israel forced its closure, this organisation documented an average of 700 children a year being arrested, detained and abused. DCIP recorded cases of forced confessions signed in Hebrew (which is not the child’s language), denial of access to lawyers and the subjection of children to military courts. Arrests are often in the middle of the night, and the child is taken away without a responsible adult accompanying them: eight out of ten are subjected to strip search.
After 2023, this brutal treatment has escalated.
Our event focused on the narratives of a number of children, commemorated in placards. People read out a summary of the child’s story, making the event a dignified and sombre symbol of our collective outrage at the abuse of children.
Readings for the event on Child Prisoners – 5th April 2026, The Day of the Palestinian Child – are available here. Each person held the placard of the child whose story they were reading.
