<\/p>\n
18 February 2025<\/p>\n
Human rights experts* have repeatedly condemned the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees and Israeli hostages. Today they denounced the degrading public display by Hamas of Israeli hostages released in Gaza on 8 and 15 February 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational humanitarian law prohibits \u2018outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment\u2019. Parading hostages as trophies of war, in a propaganda spectacle, clearly violates this rule. It is also distressing to their families,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n
They noted that some of those released were coerced into holding certificates on stage and conducting interviews on Hamas television testifying to good treatment, beneath political banners and surrounded by armed militants. An earlier release saw an intimidating scene of a young female hostage shoved by a crowd.<\/p>\n
Three of those released on 8 February appeared malnourished. \u201cHumanitarian law requires humane treatment of all detainees. The physical condition of the hostages suggests serious mistreatment,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n
The experts stressed that violations of humanitarian law provisions are war crimes and further violate the absolute prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.<\/p>\n
They recalled that international humanitarian law prohibits and criminalises hostage-taking. It is also a crime in non-international armed conflict under the 1979 International Convention on the Taking of Hostages.<\/p>\n
\u201cHostage taking negates the humanity of victims and is agonising for their loved ones. No one should be treated as a means to a political end. All people arbitrarily deprived of liberty must be immediately and unconditionally released,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ experts have repeatedly condemned the taking of hostages since it first occurred. Six groups of hostages of Israeli and other nationalities have been released since the ceasefire commenced and 70 of the 251 people taken hostage have not been released and 34 of these are reportedly deceased.<\/p>\n
They have also repeatedly condemned Israel\u2019s mistreatment and abuses of Palestinian detainees, including starvation, beatings and sexual violence, which may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and war crimes. \u201cIsrael has detained thousands of Palestinians since 7 October 2023,\u201d the experts said. \u201cIn many cases their detention has been arbitrary and incommunicado, along with dozens of reported enforced disappearances. Perpetrators of all international crimes must be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge both Israel and Palestinian armed groups to release all those illegally detained and immediately permit unfettered access to all detainees by the International Committee of the Red Cross, provide necessary medical care, and enable contact with their families,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The experts called on all parties to respect the three stages of the ceasefire agreement, ensure the continuing release of all hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained, reveal the fate and whereabouts of all forcibly disappeared persons, respectfully return the deceased to their families, ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, and permit the return of displaced Palestinians.<\/p>\n
\u201cDecades of brutal violence and dehumanisation in the context of Israel\u2019s prolonged occupation has not guaranteed security for anyone in the region,\u201d the experts said. \u201cWe urge independent investigations and accountability for all violations, and a comprehensive political settlement based on full respect for international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*The experts: Ben Saul,<\/strong>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism;<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Francesca Albanese,<\/strong>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967;<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Morris Tidball- Binz,<\/strong>\u00a0Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions;<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Gabriella Citroni (Chair- Rapporteur), Gra\u017cyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Bald\u00e9, Ana Lorena Delgadillo P\u00e9rez and Mohammed Al-Obaidi<\/strong>,\u00a0Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances;<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Alice Jill Edwards<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 18 February 2025 Human rights experts* have repeatedly condemned the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees and Israeli hostages. Today they denounced the degrading public display by Hamas of Israeli hostages released in Gaza on 8 and 15 February 2025. \u201cInternational humanitarian law prohibits \u2018outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment\u2019. Parading hostages […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[5465,6681,6854,5847,6862],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,2265,6883,2005,6848,2673,6844],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-305963","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-extrajudicial-summary-arbitrary-executions","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-promotion-and-protection-of-human-rights-and-fundamental-freedoms-while-countering-terrorism","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territories-occupied-since-1967","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-and-degrading-treatment-or-punishment","document-source-working-group-on-enforced-or-involuntary-disappearances","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-detainees","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-hostages","document-subject-torture","document-subject-war-crimes","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/305963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/305963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305964,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/305963\/revisions\/305964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=305963"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=305963"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=305963"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=305963"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=305963"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=305963"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=305963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}