PSI solidarity with Palestinian detainees

26 April 2017

The PSI Executive Board EB-150 endorsed a solidarity statement affirming its concern on the conditions surrounding the incarceration of more than 6,500 female and male detainees, including 300 children, in Israeli prisons, and joins other voices in support of better conditions and respect for their dignity.

PSI SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIAN DETAINEES

I am writing on behalf of Public Services International (PSI) and its more than 20 million members in the public sector around the world, to express our support and solidarity to the Palestinian detainees’ hunger strike, that started on 17^th April 2017.

PSI states its concern on the conditions surrounding the incarceration of more than 6,500 female and male detainees, including 300 children, in Israeli prisons, and joins other voices in support of better conditions and respect for their dignity.

These demands include:

Establishment of public telephone lines in the prisons to allow detainees to communicate with their families;
Increasing the time for family visits;
Improvement of the accommodation and health care conditions;
Improvement of food;
Access to books, newspapers, clothes and personal belongings;
Ending the solitary confinement;
Guarantee the right and access to education.

PSI supports these demands, which are in line with internationally recognized human rights, and calls for all the parties to find a mutually agreed solution to this delicate issue.

PSI will be monitoring closely the situation and will support and advocate for initiatives aimed at improving the situation of the detainees and their families.

In solidarity,