UNREF: A/HRC/59/NGO/243

Date: 23 June 2025

Title: Systematic Torture of Palestinian Female Prisoners in Israeli Jails, Including Sexual Violations

Written statement submitted by The Palestinian Return Centre Ltd, a non-governmental organisation in special consultative status. Human Rights Council Fifty-ninth session 16 June–11 July 2025 Agenda item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.

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Press Release

PRC Submits Report to the United Nations on Israeli Violations Against Palestinian Female Prisoners

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) has submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council during its 59th session, documenting serious and systematic violations against Palestinian female prisoners in Israeli detention, particularly since 7 October 2023.

The report, titled “Systematic Torture of Palestinian Female Prisoners in Israeli Jails, Including Sexual Violations,” outlines a series of practices that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include physical and psychological torture, medical neglect, forced stripping, solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and deprivation of basic sanitary items. The report also includes verified testimonies of degrading treatment targeting the physical integrity and dignity of detainees.

It further details how Israeli authorities use the bodies of female prisoners as tools of collective punishment and control, through violations of privacy, threats of sexual violence, deliberate starvation, denial of medical care, and the forcible removal or misuse of the hijab as a form of humiliation. Testimonies from former detainees and human rights lawyers also describe inhumane conditions in facilities such as Damon Prison, Sde Teiman, and Naqab Prison.

The report draws on field-based evidence, documented survivor testimonies, and findings from international sources, including the March 2025 report by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry titled “Beyond What the Human Body Can Endure.” This UN report confirmed Israel’s systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon against Palestinians, including women.

In a statement accompanying the report, PRC said:
"The abuses faced by Palestinian female prisoners are not isolated incidents but part of a deliberate and systematic policy aimed at breaking their will. The international community’s failure to act has emboldened these practices. Protecting Palestinian women and holding perpetrators accountable is a global responsibility."

The report concludes with several key recommendations to the Human Rights Council and UN Member States, including:

The report was prepared and submitted in cooperation with the International Organisation for Solidarity with Prisoners (Tadamon) as part of a shared commitment to exposing violations against Palestinian prisoners and advancing international accountability mechanisms.