Search: palestine icc
29 Mar Comparing the ICJ’s Provisional Measures Orders in South Africa v. Israel
...operations, as this is the only way to secure a zero-civilian-casualty rate in Palestine. Others, including myself, were more sceptical. We believed reading the Order and the individual Judges’ separate opinions revealed that the Court’s intent was not to ordera ceasefire, primarily because, if that had been its intent, it would have simply spelled it out. Instead, only Judge Bhandari included wording favourable to this, and in a very vague way: “Going further though”, he said, “all participants in the conflict must ensure that all fighting and hostilities come to...
16 Aug Symposium on Oumar Ba’s Book ‘States of Justice: The Politics of the International Criminal Court’–Introductory Post
[Owiso Owiso is a Doctoral Researcher in Public International Law at the University of Luxembourg.] Inter-governmental organisations are often theatres of inter-state politics. Why then does the suggestion that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may not be any different bother observers so? Well, that is perhaps because the ICC is not just another ‘ordinary’ inter-governmental organisation. It is also, and perhaps primarily, a judicial mechanism. As the only permanent international criminal court, and one with the grandiose ambition of ending impunity for international crimes, the ICC is often perceived by...
24 Oct A Short History of the War Crime of Collective Punishment
Introduction Of all the questions I’ve been asked concerning the latest round of violence in the Israel/Palestine situation, the most common is whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to the war crime of collective punishment. Because of my role as a Special Advisor to the ICC Prosecutor, it would be inappropriate for me to address that question; there is, of course, an open OTP investigation into the situation in Palestine. But I thought it might be useful to provide readers with a short history of the war crime itself, because...16 Jul Remedies for Settlements: A Return to What Status Quo?
...Indeed, there was not even discussion as far as I know of the obligation to deport that has been asserted in our discussions here. So there appears to be alot of flexbility in this rule. But lets say the others are right: the remedy is to reverse the illegal situation in all of its particulars, to ‘67. Let us play out the implications. From ’49-67, part of historic Palestine was occupied by Jordan. There was not much international pressure on Jordan to reverse this illegal situation, let alone to return...
03 Nov Genocide at The Hague: A Transitional Justice Reckoning?
[Dr Jeremie M. Bracka is an international human rights law scholar and transitional justice expert at RMIT University’s School of Law (Melbourne). He previously worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and is the author of Transitional Justice for Israel/Palestine? (Springer, 2022)] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is witnessing a striking rise in genocide litigation, as global armed conflicts find their way to The Hague. On 19 September 2025, Brazil submitted its formal intervention in South Africa’s case against Israel, a move that further amplifies the Court’s growing...
05 Sep Iran’s Threat of Retaliation
...international law Palestine has the right to resist militarily based on its right to self-determination—both in its quest for statehood and in opposing Israeli military occupation, as recently confirmed by the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Policies and Practices of Israel in the OPT – then Hamas leaders might be considered to enjoy elevated rights under international law, possibly even an informal right to immunity. Although the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is internationally recognized as the representative of the Palestinian people, it is Hamas that actually conducts trials ‘on the...
20 Apr ICC Sanctions Symposium: From Subtle Opposition to Active Marginalisation–U.S. Sanctions Against I.C.C. Officials in Context, and Future Implications
...consider as ICC’s expansive reach of jurisdiction. It is also noteworthy that the Security Council has not taken sufficient steps to ensure cooperation in compliance with the two resolutions referring Sudan and Libya to the ICC (see, Aregawi). This is in addition to not providing financial support to the Court for the referred situations. After years of selecting situations primarily on the African continent, the Court has in the past few years started focussing on other situations in other parts of the world. What may have been a turning point...
27 Dec Access to Freshwater and Accountability Issues in the Israel-Hamas Armed Conflict
...The Office of the Prosecutor has thus the authority to investigate alleged violations committed by all parties involved in the armed conflict, including both Hamas and Israel. In fact, since 2021, the ICC has been already investigating the alleged crimes committed in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem (see the decision of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber here). This signifies a significant legal avenue for addressing potential serious violations of IHL, particularly in cases where the involved parties fail to ensure accountability. In addition, in situations where allegations of grave breaches...
16 Jun Baldassi and Others v. France: Criminal Convictions of BDS Activists Violate Freedom of Expression under the European Convention on Human Rights
...of the Case The applicants are eleven members of the ‘Palestine 68 Collective’, a French organization supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The movement was founded on July 9, 2005 as a response from Palestinian non-governmental organizations to the Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Israel’s Construction of a Wall delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) the year before. According to the ICJ, the Wall and the regime of de facto annexation it created was contrary to international law, and in particular international humanitarian law, international human...
23 Oct Failing the Institution? The Assembly of States Parties’ Management of the Investigation into the Prosecutor
...a year ago, after seeing materially no change in the paralysis of this case. At this stage in the ongoing saga, it is proper to question the role of the Bureau of the Assembly and their management of the investigation, the novel and equally worrying next steps planned after the receipt of the findings and the larger context surrounding a case that should have been dealt in an exemplary way but has found itself tangled in the geopolitics of the situation of the State of Palestine before the Chambers. At...