UN to recognize Israeli hostage families as victims of psychological torture
The United Nations is set to release a report which officially recognizes family members of hostages as being victims of psychological torture, according to Israel’s Kan News.
The report, titled “Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: hostage-taking as torture,” is expected to be released on Wednesday evening by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to Kan, the new recognition is a result of the work of Dr. Shelly Aviv Yeni of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, who arranged a meeting between hostage families and Dr. Alice Jill Edwards.
Edwards is the UN special rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
This led to her decision to write the report acknowledging the families of hostages as victims of torture.
“The physical and mental pain or suffering they experience meets the threshold of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” Edwards wrote in the report, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum notes that this recognition will not be merely symbolic, but will “allow families to file claims in international tribunals against Hamas for damages and seek financial compensation for their suffering.”
The forum added that it intends to further advocate for a UN Security Council resolution on the matter, the JPost reported.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
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