The right to receive notification of a person’s arrest and holding place is a fundamental right of both the detainee and his family. Registration in the holding site is crucial for upholding the detainee's rights. Only thus can his family and attorney obtain information about the detainee's status, holding conditions and health, find out if and when he can be visited, and act to have his rights upheld. Furthermore, the detainee's ability to exercise his right to be present in the proceedings against him depends on his proper registration in the detention site.
Yet despite the authorities' obligation to notify the family of the detainee's whereabouts, the military and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) do not uphold their duty. Moreover, they refuse to let families contact them directly for information and prohibit security detainees to contact their families. In this regard, it is important to note that Israel holds Palestinian residents of the Territories within Israel and holds the arrest procedures in courts inside the state,
in contravention of international law provisions.
Since its inception, HaMoked has been tracing the whereabouts of detainees and informing their families in the shortest time. HaMoked submits its inquiries to the military Incarceration Control Center, which was established following
HaMoked's petition in 1995. Its role is to compile all detention data and provide the current whereabouts of a detainee, within 24 hours from receipt of a request. HaMoked constantly monitors the performance of the control center and works to establish an extreme urgency procedure, when dealing with minors, women, and injured persons, all entitled to special treatment and protections.
In the year 2010, HaMoked handled over 3,200 requests to trace new detainees.
