KOMPAS.com -
Indonesia has called for international cooperation to stop violence against Palestinian prisoners held at a number of Israeli prisons and detention centers. President of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians of International Parliamentary Union (IPU) Dr. Nurhayati Ali Assegaf made the call in her keynote speech to the First International Conference on the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners in Geneva recently.
Minister Counselor of the Indonesian Representative in Geneva Dicky Komar said in a press statement issued on Tuesday the conference was initiated by three non-governmental organizations, U-free, Rights for All and North-South 21.
The other speakers of the conference were members of the Palestinian, Greek, Swiss and Irish parliaments as well as former Palestinian prisoners including Sheik Raed Salah who is now Imam of Al Aqsa Mosque.
Also present at the conference were figures, non-governmental organization activists, and academicians from various European countries. Nurhayati who is also deputy chief of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Board (BKSAP) of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) further stressed Indonesia’s consistency in encouraging the formation of an independent Palestinian state in what she said was in line with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution.
She also attached the significance of integrated concrete steps involving various elements of the international community to put an end to Israeli violence among others through the mechanisms of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee to allow any of their members to monitor and visit Israeli prisons and detention centers.
She said the fate of female prisoners should also draw special attention because they were highly vulnerable to violence and human rights violation. The conference underscored the need for Israel to comply with international conventions related to prisoners’ rights, ensure that the rights of Palestinian prisoners were fulfilled, and stop violence against them.
In addition, it also underlined the importance of comprehensive solution to the Palestinian conflict by forming an independent Palestinian state. The conference also agreed to declare 2011 as the Year of Palestinian Women Prisoners.
