{"id":5277,"date":"2024-01-08T13:04:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T10:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/?p=5277"},"modified":"2024-01-08T13:04:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T10:04:44","slug":"statement-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-before-the-international-court-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2024\/01\/08\/statement-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-before-the-international-court-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement: South Africa\u2019s genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa has filed on 29 December 2023 an application instituting proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning alleged violations by Israel of its international obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) regarding Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, according to South Africa, Israel has, since 7 October 2023, committed \u201cwith the requisite specific intent\u2026to destroy Palestinians in the Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group\u201d actions and commissions considered \u201cgenocidal in character\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Application filed by the South African state also contains a Request for the indication of provisional measures. Therefore, South Africa requests the Court to indicate provisional measures in order to\u00a0 \u201cprotect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention\u201d and \u201cto ensure Israel\u2019s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January 2024, the International Court of Justice will hold public hearings in the proceedings instituted by South Africa regarding the request for the indication of provisional measures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ACHRS welcomes South Africa\u2019s initiative to institute proceedings against Israel before the\u00a0 International Court of Justice and encourages all State Members to back the South African\u2019s claim on genocide in Gaza. Indeed, our moral compass must tend towards a ceasefire and justice at last for the Palestinian people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is the International Court of Justice ?\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established by the United Nations Charter in 1945 and began its activities one year later. The Court has two roles: the first one is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and the second one to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to by United Nations organs and agencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the International Criminal Court, which was established in 2002, seeks to hold individuals criminally responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, the ICJ holds States responsible for those crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the legal definition of Genocide ?\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Genocide was first recognised as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly (<\/span>A\/RES\/96-I<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was then codified as an independent crime in the <\/span>1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide<\/span><\/a> (the Genocide Convention) which, as of April 2022, has been ratified by 153 States (including both Israel and South Africa). The ICJ has stated that the prohibition of Genocide is a peremptory norm of international law (<\/span>or ius cogens<\/span><\/i>) which means that no derogation from it is allowed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Article II of the <\/span>Genocide Convention<\/span><\/a> is defined in the same terms as in Article VI of the <\/span>Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Indeed, Genocide means any of the following acts <\/span>committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n