On 29 December 2023, the Republic of South Africa activated Article 9 of the Genocide Convention filing an application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requesting provisional proceedings against Israel concerning its recent atrocities against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
BADIL and the Global Palestinian Refugee and Internally Displaced Person Network (GPRN) thank South Africa for the initiative, which fulfills one of its obligations as a third-party state to hold Israel accountable for the commission of the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The South Africa initiative is the right example to pave the way to saving Palestinian lives, and bringing an end to Israel’s genocide and its colonial-apartheid regime over the Palestinian people and Palestine.
While we appreciate this commendable step, other third states must either join and support the South Africa request, or take their own initiatives to fulfill their negative and positive duties under their responsibilities for internationally wrongful acts.
Therefore, BADIL and the GPRN call on all states to activate universal jurisdiction measures, and implement arms embargoes and sanctions against Israel to hold it accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly genocide and forced displacement and transfer.
29 December 2023
Source: ww.badil.org