Asma Barakat is a Palestinian freelance journalist based in the US. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in sociology. Her writing focuses on Palestinian current events, primarily regarding human rights, politics and society. Instagram: @asmaflstn
After 35 years of unrivaled and invaluable work, the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) announced that it will cease operations due to "Israel's targeted criminalization of Palestinian human rights organizations" on April 7. For years, actions against non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have created significant operational challenges for Palestinian civil society, negatively impacting peaceful efforts to support Palestinian communities under Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid system.
DCIP was a pioneer in the fight against Israel's unjust treatment of Palestinian children. As a chapter of Defense for Children International (DCI), an international child rights movement and NGO established in 1979, DCIP vowed to uphold DCI's mandate to "promote and protect children's rights in accordance with international standards," while adapting to address the unique needs within the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Since its 1991 inception during the First Intifada, DCIP has investigated, documented and exposed grave human rights violations against minors, providing essential legal services to those in need. In a world that long ago normalized the suffering of Palestinian youth, DCIP fought for accountability and maintained its vital mission promoting justice and protection for children.
Since its 1991 inception during the First Intifada, DCIP has investigated, documented and exposed grave human rights violations against minors, providing essential legal services to those in need.
- Asma Barakat
DCIP's work included documenting children's rights issues in the OPT, providing important context regarding the situation of children in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Its work exposed Israel's history of child imprisonment, torture, humiliation and sexual assault. It is because of these efforts that the world understands what has always been the reality for Palestinian children under occupation.
DCIP's closure is therefore a great loss for Palestine and its youth, who have no protection under a genocidal military occupation that seeks to snuff out childhood before it blossoms. It was the only Palestinian human rights organization specifically focused on children's rights across the OPT. As a result of its efforts spanning 35 years, DCIP evolved from a group of volunteers in a single room at the Beit Sahour YMCA to a leading independent Palestinian human rights organization. This success stemmed both from its seniority and its ability to operate on the ground in Palestinian communities.
Unfortunately, that success is why this news is shocking but not surprising. The Israeli state has constantly harassed the organization throughout its history. The last five years, in particular, became burdensome due to Israel's criminalization of DCIP and other NGOs.
The story dates to February 2021, when DCIP released a report citing the rape of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy during interrogation in Israeli detention. The Palestinian organization reported this crime to the U.S. State Department, which subsequently produced an inquiry alongside Israeli authorities.
Covering stories of Palestinian child prisoners was central to the DCIP's work. Israel is the only country in the world that automatically and systematically prosecutes children in military courts. Recently, the Israeli Knesset passed a law mandating the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners convicted on terrorism charges. Between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system annually, placing many at risk of execution. Since early 2026, around 350 children remain detained.
This work proved too costly for the Israeli government. Less than six months after it submitted its complaint to U.S. officials, Israeli forces stormed DCIP's office, seizing computers, laptops and hard drives containing confidential information. The Israeli government designated the DCIP and five other prominent Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations, including Al-Haq, Addameer, Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees, as "terrorist organizations," erroneously arguing they held ties to Palestinian political and armed factions previously designated in the same manner. In July 2022, Israeli forces raided DCIP's office again, welding its front doors shut and leaving a notice outlawing the organization.
Hostility grew, but DCIP continued operations. The institution adapted by running its services out of schools and local community centers. Yet, in 2025, the NGO found itself added to a list of 37 organizations that were set to be barred from operating in Gaza if they did not comply with new and strenuous Israeli NGO regulations by January 2026. With years of impossible restrictions compounded against them, DCIP was forced to shut down just months later.
Palestinian children are not numbers, statistics or collateral damage. They deserve and need protection.
- Asma Barakat
As a result, Palestinian children are now left significantly more vulnerable. They are simultaneously one of the most unprotected and powerless demographics globally and most intentionally targeted within the OPT. At this moment, and for the first time in over 35 years, there is no children's rights-focused NGO left in Palestine.
Jennifer Bing, the National Director of the U.S. Palestine Activism Program under the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), worked alongside the DCIP starting in 2013 to amplify advocacy for Palestinian children in the United States. The collaboration fostered the "No Way to Treat a Child" program, an educational and advocacy campaign focused on the experiences of Palestinian children held in Israeli military detention. In 2017, the DCIP and AFSC's joint efforts produced the first ever bill in U.S. history that centered the rights of Palestinians and called for conditioning aid to Israel.
In a conversation with Democracy in Exile, Bing addressed the DCIP's cessation of operations, stating, "The closure of DCIP comes at a moment when the lack of accountability for Israeli war crimes has reached unprecedented levels. The genocide in Gaza and widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees and prisoners has sadly seen that international law protections are not yet able to stop the destruction of Palestinian lives."
Nonetheless, she remains steadfast: "I am hopeful that new organizations will build upon the strong foundation of documentation and advocacy that DCIP established. But perhaps more importantly, I hope that children who face intolerable abuse in detention and are tried in an unjust Israeli military court system will still find the legal assistance to support their rights."
"The work in communities to help children re-enter society after they have been in prison is also essential work," she added.
Palestinian children are not numbers, statistics or collateral damage. They deserve and need protection. Prominent Israeli figures frequently express their desire to exterminate them — traits consistent within Israeli politics and society. In 2014, former Israeli politician Ayelet Shaked called for a genocide of Palestinians, describing Palestinian babies as "little snakes." A decade later, Israel conducted some of its most harrowing crimes, including refusing to evacuate premature babies from Al-Nasr Hospital in November 2023. They were left to die alone, later found as decomposed corpses.
Israel's plan to render DCIP inactive is part of a strategy to hide its crimes against children from the world and rob Palestinians of protection. Israel is not just violently stripping Palestinians of their rights; it is criminalizing Palestinian life and those who dare protect it. It is difficult to imagine Palestine without the organization, especially when violence against Palestinians — especially children — is at an all-time high and growing.
The last three years have been Palestine's deadliest. Israel has massacred tens of thousands of children in Gaza, orphaning thousands more while leaving children with life-altering injuries. Others have been abducted, imprisoned and tortured. DCIP was critical in sharing their unfiltered experiences as children enduring a genocide.
For Bing, the DCIP exposed her to the painful and harsh reality facing Palestinian children and their families: "I accompanied a lawyer from DCIP to a military court once in the West Bank, and I will never forget the fear and anxiety I felt from the children and parents in that space. One mother silently wept beside me as her son was sentenced to three months in prison for allegedly throwing a stone at the separation wall."
"I vowed then never to forget or stop advocating for the rights of children living under the unjust Israeli military occupation," she added.
In this moment, we mourn the end of a fierce advocate for children during their most traumatic, confusing and frightening hours. Yet amid the loss of Defense for Children International – Palestine, it is crucial not to succumb to defeat. Israel cannot be allowed to avoid accountability, nor shield itself from committing crimes against children.
Palestinian children deserve better. They are entitled to a life free from suffering, colonial violence and occupation — not Israeli imprisonment, maiming and murder for daring to exist.
The views and positions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DAWN.
