Latest news with #RomeStatute
Saba Yemen
3 days ago
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Gaza Government Media Office: Health & Humanitarian Situation in Gaza reaches total collapse
Gaza – SABA: The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip has declared that the health and humanitarian situation in the territory has reached a stage of total collapse due to the ongoing policies of genocide carried out by the Israeli occupation. Ismail Al-Thawabta, Director General of the Media Office, told the Palestinian Safa news agency on Friday that Gaza is facing a catastrophic food crisis and famine as Israel systematically prevents the entry of food, resulting in actual cases of starvation. He explained that the absence of hygiene and the leakage of sewage have led to the spread of epidemics and skin and digestive diseases in overcrowded shelter centers. Al-Thawabta added that the near-total destruction of water and electricity infrastructure has rendered basic services unavailable to the majority of the population. He stressed that this situation constitutes not only a humanitarian catastrophe but an ongoing crime against humanity that amounts to genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. He noted that Israel has deliberately committed massacres against Palestinian civilians and families in Gaza, with over 15,000 massacres reported since the start of the genocide campaign. Among these, 14,000 families have been subjected to massacres, with 2,483 families completely erased from the civil registry, totaling 7,120 martyrs. Additionally, 5,620 families were mostly wiped out, leaving only one survivor in each, with a death toll of 10,151 martyrs. 'This pattern of targeting clearly reflects a genocidal intent and contradicts the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the four Geneva Conventions, which prohibit attacks against civilians and protected families,' Al-Thawabta stated. Regarding hospital attacks, he emphasized that the systematic targeting of hospitals, shelters, and the killing of children is not random, but part of a deliberate strategy to inflict maximum pain and destruction for multiple objectives. These objectives, according to Al-Thawabta, include depopulating the land through mass killings of children and families to force displacement, dismantling societal resilience structures including the healthcare system, shelters, schools, mosques, and churches, and paralyzing humanitarian and medical efforts to increase death tolls and deepen the catastrophe. These acts aim to use suffering as a political bargaining tool, which is in blatant violation of international law. He pointed out that under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, targeting protected medical and humanitarian facilities constitutes a clear war crime. Al-Thawabta confirmed that since March 18, the pace of Israeli crimes has seen a bloody escalation aimed at enforcing a 'surrender or genocide' equation before summer, using starvation and brutal bombardment as pressure tools. This includes the destruction of what remains of community infrastructure in Rafah – the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced people – where a major massacre occurred. The escalation also aims to create a state of total shock to obstruct any political or field solutions, enforce new realities on the ground, and attempt a final forced displacement from Gaza – all in direct violation of international law and amounting to a crime of mass deportation. Al-Thawabta highlighted the catastrophic outcomes of this escalation, including over 5,500 civilian deaths in just two months and the destruction of thousands of tents and shelter centers in southern Gaza, including the so-called 'safe zone.' This also included attacks on rescue teams and field hospitals, rendering the remaining humanitarian response systems inoperative. He concluded by asserting that what is happening in Gaza is not just a military assault, but a described and systematic act of genocide being perpetrated by the occupying forces amid a disgraceful international silence and absence of accountability. Al-Thawabta called on relevant international bodies, particularly the International Criminal Court and the United Nations, to act immediately to halt this genocide and hold its perpetrators accountable. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
ICC judges seek dismissal of Duterte's disqualification bid
Two judges handling the crimes against humanity case of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the International Criminal Court (ICC) have asked the tribunal to dismiss the disqualification bid against them, calling it groundless. In a 3-page document dated May 22, Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera stressed that they abide by their undertaking to exercise their judicial functions impartially. '[T]here are no grounds to doubt our impartiality in the current case and none of the criteria established under article 41(2) of the Rome Statute are met,' it read. 'We, as judges, act at all times in accordance with our judicial duties under the Rome Statute and kindly request the Plenary of Judges to reject the Disqualification Request,' it added. Duterte's camp previously requested the Presidency to disqualify Alpini-Gansou and Flores Liera from adjudicating on the issue of jurisdiction. The judges, however, said that when the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber 1 addressed the issue of jurisdiction in the Philippines' case, it did so in accordance with its duties, within the limits of the proceeding, and without prejudice to the future determinations of the same issue. It said that the chamber only previously considered the matter of jurisdiction in relation to the question whether there is a basis for the ICC Prosecutor to proceed with its investigation in the country. The judges said that the arguments raised by the Duterte camp were not considered by the Chamber at that time. 'Thus, it is untenable to suggest that judges cannot adjudicate a matter which is legally within their competence just because they previously issued judicial decisions at different stages of the proceedings in the same Situation on the basis of different arguments,' it read. 'As mentioned earlier, judges are professionals capable of deciding on issues before them relying solely and exclusively on the evidence and submissions adduced in the particular case,' it added. Duterte is currently under the custody of the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands. The confirmation of charges will take place on September 23, 2025.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
What is ecocide and could it become a crime under international law?
From the legend of the Romans' salting of the fields of Carthage, to Iraq's burning of Kuwait's oilfields, to Israel's bulldozing of Palestinian olive groves, wanton acts of environmental destruction have long been a military tactic. But while armies and their leaders have been held to account for the human victims of their violence, the natural world has been a silent victim, often overlooked and disregarded, even when its destruction has had a material impact on the lives of the people it supports. In recent years, however, a global campaign has been running to recognise 'ecocide' – an act of violence which is to nature as genocide is to people – as a crime under international law. The concept of ecocide dates back to the 1970s, when it was first used by a biologist, Arthur Galston, to describe the mass deforestation caused by the use of Agent Orange by US forces during the Vietnam war. It was raised as a concept at several environment summits in the ensuing decades, until gradually falling into obscurity until the 2000s, when a pioneering barrister, the late Polly Higgins, revived it. When Higgins rebooted the campaign for the criminalisation of ecocide, she defined it as 'the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been or will be severely diminished'. The Rome Statute is the treaty which established the international criminal court (ICC) and laid out four international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Campaigners would like to see ecocide listed as a fifth crime against peace, targeting the very worst harms to the environment, usually on an industrial scale or over a large area, and making key decision-makers accountable. Actually, yes, it is – at least in the context of war – according to a rather obscure sub-clause of the Rome statute. Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the ICC's Rome Statute stipulates as a war crime, within the context of an international armed conflict, the act of: 'Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause […] widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated'. However, no charges under the provision have ever been filed. Experts suggest that is because the article sets a high threshold, requiring that such an attack on the environment must be 'intentional', and that the damage must be 'widespread, long term and severe', as well as 'clearly excessive'. The proposal seeks to lower the threshold to 'unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts'. This would apply most importantly outside the context of armed conflict, with corporations and states potentially held liable for their roles in environmental destruction no matter the circumstances. But it would also help during armed conflict, according to Jojo Mehta, chief executive of Stop Ecocide International, who says it would 'create a clear tool for justiciability in wartime'. Cases under the Rome statute are heard by the ICC in The Hague, the same court that heard South Africa's genocide case against Israel, either via a case brought by the UN security council, or because states or even private individuals have petitioned the court's prosecutor to begin an investigation. However, the ICC is intended only as a course of last resort, so any states or organisations wanting to bring cases before it would first have to exhaust all domestic opportunities to bring cases. This is what is under way in Ukraine, where the state prosecutors are using the country's own domestic courts to seek justice for the immense environmental damage caused to the country since it was invaded by Russia. Ecocide was very nearly included in the Rome statute at its inception in the 1990s; its current revival, says Mehta, is very much down to the efforts of Ukraine since Russia's invasion three years ago. Around the same time, Stop Ecocide International came up with its own international definition that has become an inspiration for a host of countries introducing their own laws at a national level. 'There are dozens of countries talking about this, and there are, I think, probably nine or 10 proposals around the world that are in progress in individual jurisdictions, [and] there are one or two that were already in place, like in Belgium and in France.' Meanwhile, the EU recently passed an environmental directive which, while it only mentions ecocide in its preamble, provides strong protections that member states will have to harmonise with their own laws. The key obstacle, Mehta says, is public understanding. 'I think about two or three years ago, we passed the point where any government wants to be seen publicly objecting to this law, because they will just look crap,' Mehta said. Instead, what is more likely is that some states would try to sidestep the introduction of such a law, either with weaker versions or by claiming there is already enough legislation on the books. The countries that have most strongly supported the introduction of the law are those that are most affected by environmental destruction. They include: Ukraine, reeling from its war with Russia; Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa, which are struggling with sea-level rises; and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been outspoken over biodiversity.
Days of Palestine
5 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Netanyahu Denies Gaza Famine, Admitting Other War Crimes
DayofPal– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected accusations that people in the Gaza Strip are facing starvation, denying that Israel is employing starvation as a tactic of war. Speaking at a conference, Netanyahu asserted that the Israeli army has documented the physical condition of thousands of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, insisting none of them showed signs of severe malnourishment. Netanyahu said that despite international assessments warn of a looming famine in the besieged enclave. 'Thousands and thousands of prisoners taking their shirt off and you don't see one, not one emaciated from the beginning of the war to the present,' he claimed. Netanyahu further claimed that, from the early stages of the war, Israel had made the decision to provide Gaza's civilian population with 'essential requirements: food, water, medicine.' However, he did not provide concrete evidence to support this assertion one that contradicts warnings issued by the United Nations and various humanitarian organizations regarding extreme levels of acute food insecurity in the territory. His remarks also confirmed that Israeli forces have detained thousands of individuals from Gaza over the course of the war. He admitted to the mass detention of thousands of civilians who were not involved in hostile activities, which is a blatant violation of Article (3) of the Geneva Conventions on war. This article prohibits warring parties from detaining civilians except under judicial and humanitarian guarantees. He also admitted to a clear and direct violation of Article (13) of the Third Geneva Convention by photographing detainees and publishing the images for the purpose of defamation and humiliation. This article was designed to protect the dignity of prisoners of war and detainees. In addition, he admitted the stripping of prisoners and photographing them in degrading and indecent positions, in ways that amount to humiliating treatment and degradation of human dignity, is considered a crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. He then concluded with a sick mockery of their bodies, saying: 'You can notice that those we detained don't exercise,' implying they are overweight from excessive eating. Despite these claims, Israel has largely kept the crossings into Gaza closed since March 2, halting the flow of food, medical supplies, and humanitarian assistance. The blockade has significantly worsened an already dire humanitarian situation, with local authorities reporting deaths from malnutrition, particularly among children. Gaza health officials have formally declared the conditions a state of famine. 58 children have died, since the war started, due to severe malnutrition, with the Gaza Government Media Office recording 9 children among 26 died in less the 24 hours due to starvation, last week. Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced on Monday that it had launched operations to distribute aid, bypassing the United Nations and established international relief agencies. Its integration into an Israeli-controlled aid mechanism has drawn criticism from humanitarian groups, who argue that sustainable, large-scale access is essential to meet the urgent needs of the population. Tensions flared on Tuesday when Israeli forces reportedly opened fire on a crowd gathered at a GHF aid distribution point, killing at least three Palestinians and injuring 46 others, according to the Gaza media office. Israel's genocide in Gaza, ongoing since October 2023, has continued despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire. The offensive has resulted in the deaths of more than 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Additionally, Israel is currently the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions against civilians in the territory. Shortlink for this post:
Days of Palestine
6 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Over 800 UK Lawyers Urge Sanctions on Israel
More than 800 legal professionals in the United Kingdom, including 11 former judges, have signed an open letter urging the British government to impose sanctions on Israeli officials over alleged violations of international law in Gaza. The letter, signed by 823 lawyers, judges, and legal scholars, calls on the UK to take 'concrete actions' in response to Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. These actions include imposing financial and immigration sanctions on Israeli ministers and military officials suspected of unlawful conduct. The legal experts also demanded that the UK review its trade relations with Israel and publicly commit to honoring its legal obligation to enforce any International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants connected to alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. The letter signals growing pressure within the British legal community for the government to align its foreign policy with international law, particularly as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to escalate. It comes amid heightened global scrutiny following the ICC prosecutor's announcement that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. The UK, as a signatory to the Rome Statute, is obligated to cooperate with the ICC — a point the letter's authors say must now be backed by action. Shortlink for this post:
