P.A. Turkey

UN court: Israel must allow humanitarian aid for Gaza

Cem Cetinguc

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the UN, holds public hearings from 17 to 21 February 2020 in the case concerning Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France), at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court. The hearings focus on the merits of the case. Session held under the presidency of Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, President of the Court. The CourtÕs role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States (its Judgments are final and binding) and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and agencies.

Israel must take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians,” ruled the court in its highly anticipated verdict.

At this stage, the ICJ is weighing emergency orders while it considers the wider accusation of genocidal acts in Gaza — a process likely to take years.

South Africa has brought the case, accusing Israel of breaching the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention, set up in the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust.

Over two days of hearings earlier this month in the gilded halls of the Peace Palace in The Hague, a world away from the violence in Israel and Gaza, robed lawyers battled over the technicalities of the Genocide Convention.

“Genocides are never declared in advance,” declared Adila Hassim, a top lawyer for South Africa.

“But this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” she added.

 

 

hurriyetdailynews.com