Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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End the mistreatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military courts
The state of Israel is believed to be the only country in the world in which an estimated 500-700 children are prosecuted in military courts each year, writes BERNARD REGAN
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
THE United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.
Around 140 countries are signatories to the convention, including the state of Israel. The government of Israel has been criticised however by Unicef for stating that it is not applicable to children in the West Bank, which it has occupied since June 1967.
In the eyes of the convention anyone under the age of 18 should be treated as a child, yet this is not the case for Palestinian children arrested by the Israeli military in the West Bank.
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On International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, HUGH LANNING warns that the US-led “Comprehensive Plan” entrenches decades of Western complicity in Israel’s domination and denial of Palestinian land and rights
Groups are urging the US government to secure the 16-year old’s release as his mental and physical health decline dramatically after nine months inside Ofer prison, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the government’s proposals to further limit the right of citizens to trial by jury
