ICJ begins hearing SA's genocide case against Israel as Gazans return to ruins
- South Africa has brought a case to the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October Hamas attack.
- The South African case includes references to the Israeli use of blanket bombing and the cutting of food, water and medicine supplies to Gaza.
Jurisdiction of ICJ in the present case
- The ICJ cannot automatically decide all cases involving breaches of international law.
- It can only decide cases that are brought before it by States that consent to its jurisdiction.
- According to the convention, disputes about interpreting, applying, or fulfilling the Convention, including a State's responsibility for genocide, must go to the ICJ if any party involved asks for it.
- Both South Africa and Israel are parties to the Convention.
- If ICJ passes an order, it will have legal significance for all States that are parties to the Genocide Convention.
UN's 1948 Genocide Convention
- The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is an international human rights treaty that codified the crime of genocide for the first time.
- This was the first human rights treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948, and has been in effect since January 12, 1951.
- The Convention defines genocide as five physical acts viz.
- killing members of a group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm
- Inflicting on the group, conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within a group
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group - committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
Prelims Takeaway
- Genocide Convention
- International Court of Justice (ICJ)