Archiv: Sam Husseini
This article by prolific journalist Sam Husseini was published on December 14, 2023. Since then, South Africa has invoked the Genocide Convention, and Malaysia has endorsed that application.
(03.01.2023)
But we have yet to see any action from most of these states…..
Organizational Sign-on Letter Calling on States to Support South Africa‘s Genocide Convention Case Against Israel at the ICJ
Organizational Signers:
– Black Alliance for Peace
– Popular Resistance, USA
– Palestinian Assembly for Liberation
– CODEPINK, USA
– Progressive International
– Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
– Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
– Women‘s International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section
– World Beyond War
– International Association of Democratic Lawyers
– National Lawyers Guild, USA
– US Boats to Gaza
– Gaza Freedom Flotilla
– Roots Action, USA
– Veterans for Peace, USA
– Project Enduring Peace, USA
– Women‘s International League for Peace and Freedom, Palestine Section
– PEN International-Palestine
– Peace, Justice, Sustainability, NOW!, USA
– Friends of Latin America, USA
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center (CMMLK), Cuba
– Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), Colombia
– Women‘s March Global – Region of the Americas
– Landless Workers Movement MST, Brazil
– Federation of Mexican Workers and Unions (Confederación de Trabajadores y Sindicatos de Mexico)
– Venezuelan Popular Feminist Movement (Plataforma de Feminismo Popular de Venezuela)
– Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAR), Western Hemisphere
– The Latin American and Caribbean Council on Popular Education (CEAAL)
– The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH
– Kenyans for Palestine
– Tatuy Tv, Venezuela
– Asociación Ecuatoriana de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui (AEAPS)
– Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos Segundo Montes Mozo S.J., Ecuador
– Comité Internacional Paz, Justicia y Dignidad a los Pueblos, Cuba/USA
– Euskadi, Cuba
– Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe, Spain
– Palestina Toma la Calle, España
– Coordinadora por la Paz, la Soberanía la Integración y la No Injerencia CPAZ Movimiento Social de DDHH, Ecuador
– Centro de Estudios e Investigación sobre Mujeres, Spain
– Fórum de Política Feminista, Spain
– Partido Comunista de los Trabajadores de Argentina
– Plataforma de Solidaridad con la Causa Palestina (Venezuela)
– Foro Itinerante de Participación Popular, Venezuela
– Asociación Gremial de Abogados y Abogadas de Argentina
– Convocatoria SEGUNDA INDEPENDENCIA de Argentina
– Agrupación ESPERANZA Revolucionaria y Socialista, Argentina
– Red de Intelectuales y Artistas en Defensa de la Humanidad- Capitulo Paraguay
– Conseil National des Comités Populaires (CNCP Martinique)
– Instituto Simón Bolívar para la Paz y la Solidaridad entre los Pueblos, Venezuela
– Plateforme Haitienne de Plaidoyer pour un Developpement Alternatif (PAPDA), Haiti
– Women Democratic Front, Pakistan
– Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice, Palestine/International
– Feminist Conversations Kenya (FCK)
– Syrian Center For Media and Freedom Of Expression
– SOLI (Red de Lucha Por la Paz y Solidaridad Internacional) Puerto Rico
– ALBA Movimientos, Latin America
– Asociación de Mujeres Campesinas y Populares AMUCAP-C, Paraguay
– Alianza Latinoamericana Por Palestina contra el Apartheid
– Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, LIMEDDH
– Justice for All, USA
– Venezuelanalysis
– Diáspora Pa’lante Collective, Puerto Rico
– Coletivo Advogadas e Advogados pela Democracia (CAAD), Brazil
– Naco Nius México. M. N. N.
– ARCH Jerusalem (Geneva, Switzerland)
– PAL Commission on War Crimes, Justice, Reparations and Return
– Women Advancement for Economic and Leadership Empowerment in Africa (WAELE AFRICA)
– Geneva Council For International Affairs and Development
– Casa Tecmilco, México
– Surgentes, colectivo de DDHH (Venezuela)
– Izquierda Libertaria – Chile
– Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC)
– Scandinavian Institute for Human Rights/Haytham Manna Foundation
– French Observatory for Human Rights
– Union of Palestinian Organizations of Latin America (UPAL)
– Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS), Jordan
– Syrian Medical Committee
– Horan Rencontre por la Citoyennete, France
– International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights – IIPJHR, Switzerland
– Fórum Latino Palestino, Brazil
– Syndicat National des Journalistes Tunisien (SNJT), Tunis
– Muslim Journal, USA
– Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists
– Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie
– Kuagro Ri Changaina, Colombia
– Alkarama (Movimiento de Mujeres Palestinas), Spain
– Raíces (Grupo cultural raíces de Guasá), Ecuador
– Comisión Étnica para la Paz y la Defensa de los Derechos Territoriales, Colombia
– International People‘s Assembly
– Arab American Civic Council
– Movimiento de Pequeños Agricultores, MPA Brazil
– Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Agropecuarias (FENACOA), Colombia
– Asociación Colombiana de Economistas Negras – Mano Cambiada
– Sindicato Aeroespacial SP, Brazil
– The Literacy Project, USA
– Sindicato na Televisão, Brazil
– JUST (International Movement for a Just World), Malaysia
– MLN – Movement for Liberation from Nakba, Malaysia
– JUST-IS Interfaith Solidarity for Justice and against Militarism, Pakistan
– Center for the Study of Islam and Decoloniality, Pakistan
– Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
– New York Peace Council
– Law for Palestine
– Palestinian Feminist Collective
– CAGE International
– Vocesenlucha – Comunicación Popular, Spain/Latin America
– Asociación Alnakba, Venezuela
– Mujeres por la Paz
– Sodepau Pais Valencia
– Jubileo Sur/Américas
– Acción Ecológica, Ecuador
– Instituto de Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo
– Nación Andaluza
– Tunisian National Bar Association
– Palestine Ceasefire Dayton, USA
– Red de Ambientalistas Comunitarios de El Salvador RACDES
– Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, Pakistan
– Congreso de los Pueblos, Colombia
– Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres Macronorte, Perú
– La Vía Campesina
– Jornada Continental por la Democracia y contra el Neoliberalismo
– Geneva Centre for Democracy & Human Rights
– One Justice – France
– International Jurists Union – Geneva
– Global Legal Alliance for Palestine
– Southern Anti-Racism Network
– Mütter gegen den Krieg Berlin-Brandenburg
– PeaceWorks Brunswick Maine, USA
– Trident Ploughshares
– Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK)
– Trade Justice Alliance, USA
– Movimiento por un mundo sin guerras y sin violencia (MSGySV)
– Veterans For Peace, Ireland Chapter
– Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos
– Observatorio por el Cierre de la Escuela de las Américas en Chile
– Jordanian Federation of Independent Trade Unions
– Asociación Americana de Juristas
– Engineers Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Medical Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Dental Association (Palestine)
– Pharmacists Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Nursery and Midwifery Association (Palestine)
– Agricultural Engineers Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Bar Association (Palestine)
– Palestinian Contractors Union (Palestine)
– Veterinarians Syndicate – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Union of Psychologists and Social Workers (Palestine)
– Sínodo luterano salvadoreño
– Green Mountain Solidarity With Palestine
– Sahel fondation
– The International Commission for Supporting the Rights of the Palestinian People “Hashd”
– Rockland for Palestine
– University Network for Human Rights
– Charlottetown Mutual Aid
– Rede Jubileu Sul Brasil
– Movimiento Estudiantil Cristiano de Cuba
– Colectivo Voces Ecológicas COVEC, Panamá
– National Network on Cuba, USA
– Public Intellectuals for Social and Spare Change, USA
– National Lawyers Guild – St. Louis Chapter
– North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, USA
– The Peace Pentagon / Oracle Institute, USA
– Our Revolution – North Dakota, USA
– Peace Action Montgomery, USA
– United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), USA
– All-African People‘s Revolutionary Party
– Friends of the Congo
– Socialist Action USA
– The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
– Oil and Gas Action Network, USA
– Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights
– Mom vision prodeca foundation (MVPF), Senegal
– Pan-Afrikan Liberation Program, USA
– Suffolk University Students for Justice in Palestine, USA
– Black Radical Christians, USA
– Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista, Spain
– Environmentalists Against War, USA
– Democratic Socialists of America – International Committee
– Georgia Human Rights Clinic, USA
– Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA), USA
– Cooperation Jackson, USA
– National Jericho Movement, USA
– Asociación Interpueblos Estado Español
– Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ), USA
– American Muslims for Palestine-Richmond VA Chapter, USA
– Peace Action of San Mateo County, USA
– Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), USA
– Friendship Office of the Americas
– HUMANITAS: The Africana Ethical Society
– Sankara Farm, USA
– Workers World Party, USA
– International Action Center
– The Universal Ethician Church
– Middle East Justice and Peace Group of Central Pennsylvania, USA
– Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine
– Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
– Doctors Against Genocide
– Seattle Anti-War Coalition
– Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice
– Ubuntu Freedom
– Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, New Zealand
– Jewish Voice for Peace — Mid-Hudson Valley, USA
– Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
– Jisoor
– Spokane Veterans For Peace #035
– Rumbo a Gaza-Freedom Flotilla Coalition
– Students for Justice in Palestine at UChicago, USA
– International Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development (INHURED International), Nepal
– Egyptian foundation for advancement of the childhood conditions
– Arab Women Organization of Jordan
– Women Helping Women Network, Jordan
– Palestine Institute for National Security Research, Palestine
– London Ontario Activism, Canada
– Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development PWWSD, Palestine
– Palestinian Labor Struggle Union
– Tunisian General Labor Union UGTT
– Jerusalem Legal Aid Center
– Bahrain Human Rights Society
– The Civil Commission for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law „ISTIQLAL“, Palestine
– Comité de Vigilance pour la Démocratie en Tunisie, Tunisia
– Inminds Human Rights Group, UK
– Resistance Kitchen, UK
– The Palestinian Federation of Women‘s Action Committee, Palestine
– Lebanese Council of Women
– Roots Society for Citizen Right, Jordan
– Damascus Center for Theoretical and Civil Rights, Syria
– Women’s Studies Centre, Palestine
– The Canadian Peoples‘ Union
– Solidarité Laïque/Méditerranée. Tunisie
– Al Baraem Association for Charitable Work, Lebanon
– Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East (Germany)
– Rencontres Marx, France
– Women‘s International League for Peace and Freedom – International
– The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession
– AlgeriaRevolt
– Algeria Solidarity Campaign
– Workers in the Informal Economy Network Uganda
– U.S. Peace Council
– Secure Scotland
– Peace People, Ireland
– Aufstehen, Germany
– Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine South Africa
– Movement for Freedom and Democracy in Palestine, Palestine
– Mother‘s School Society, Palestine
– Arab Commission for Human Rights
– Association of Women’s Action, Palestine
– HOPE (Health Over Profit for Everyone) in the Midwest, USA
– Bronx Anti War Coalition, USA
– Citizens International, Malaysia
– Jewish Network for Palestine (UK)
– SE London Friends Of Palestine, UK
– Voices for Justice in Palestine, USA
100+ Global Rights Groups Urge Support for South Africa‘s Genocide Case Against Israel at ICJ
The letter was released days after South Africa filed its claim, asking the ICJ to declare that Israel has breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention, to which it is a party.
The death toll in Gaza has reached at least 22,313, with at least 57,296 people wounded and thousands feared dead under rubble.
Sam Husseini on the Patrick Henningsen Show tntradiolive.podbean.com/e/s… @21WIRE and @samhusseini with an update on the #SouthAfrica case submitted to the International Court of Justice (@TNTRadioLive)
Was interesting listening to Nasrallah today. He basically said international law is BS. We get what we get because we have weapons because the world refused to listen to us when we talked about what was right and wrong. If the ICJ doesn‘t do the right thing, Nasrallah will be right and the ICJ will have no legitimacy.
Cautious optimism from @samhusseini, who has been relentlessly calling on states to invoke the Genocide Convention since October and raising public awareness. Thank you for all of your work on this, Sam.
One of his past articles: https://consortiumnews.com/2023/11/21/invoking-the-genocide-convention-against-israel/
Well would you look at that. Kudos to @samhusseini who has been leading the charge on invoking the genocide convention for weeks now.
Pin it to your profiles. #InvokeGenocideConvention at the @CIJ_ICJ Now.
(November 28, 2023)
#InvokeGenocideConvention My latest — To Save Gaza, Invoke the Genocide Convention
(November 19, 2023)
The ICC is a „puppet institution“. What‘s needed is a country to invoke the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. Here‘s how, with argument, phone numbers, addresses and emails.
Some of the greatest successes in recent human history have combined protest movements with strong diplomatic moves.
In February 1998, the Clinton administration seemed poised to inflict a massive attack on Iraq, but vocal opposition from the US public, especially at a CNN town hall meeting in Ohio, combined by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan going to Iraq, repelled the US government attack.
The following year, in the Battle of Seattle, combined protests in the streets and delegations from the global south finding their backbone resulted in the World Trade Organization’s plans collapsing. This was a major setback for global corporate interests.
There is now effectively a global movement, largely based around mass protests, to stop Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Several countries, including South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, Djibouti as well as Colombia and Algeria and Turkey have moved for the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli officials.
The problem is that ICC has been dragging its heels for years on prosecuting Israelis. It has been called a “white man’s court” after only going after Africans, and, after letting Israel off the hook during an earlier assault on Gaza, “a hoax”. Some of these nations have called Israel’s war crimes “genocide”. They should act on their words and invoke the relevant treaty. Other nations that have been especially critical of Israel are Pakistan, Brazil, Chile, Belize, Jordan, Chad, Honduras, Bahrain, Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba.
The International Court of Justice, also called the World Court, in contrast has ruled against Israel. But so far these rulings have been advisory opinions. It ruled against Israel in a case regarding its wall in 2004. In another case before it, is expected to rule against Israel’s long term policies.
But what can be done now, Prof. Francis Boyle, who successfully represented the Bosnians before the World Court, argues is to use emergency processes to give more teeth to the World Court. This can be done by invoking the Genocide Convention. This is outlined by Boyle, noted by UN whistleblower Craig Mokhiber, backed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, and written about by myself. And most recently by Craig Murray, now a human rights activist who was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan and Rector of the University of Dundee.
Murray just wrote the piece “Activating the Genocide Convention” which states: “There are 149 states party to the Genocide Convention. Every one of them has the right to call out the genocide in progress in Gaza and report it to the United Nations. In the event that another state party disputes the claim of genocide — and Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom are all states party — then the International Court of Justice [also called the World Court] is required to adjudicate on ‘the responsibility of a State for genocide.‘”
Murray quotes from the Genocide Convention and cites evidence that Israel is conducting genocide and that the US and British governments are at minimum complicit in that. He then states: “The International Court of Justice is the most respected of international institutions; while the United States has repudiated its compulsory jurisdiction, the United Kingdom has not and the EU positively accepts it.
“If the International Court of Justice makes a determination of genocide, then the International Criminal Court does not have to determine that genocide has happened. This is important because unlike the august and independent ICJ, the ICC is very much a western government puppet institution which will wiggle out of action if it can. But a determination of the ICJ of genocide and of complicity in genocide would reduce the ICC’s task to determining which individuals bear the responsibility. That is a prospect which can indeed alter the calculations of politicians.
“It is also the fact that a reference for genocide would force the western media to address the issue and use the term, rather than just pump out propaganda about Hamas fighting bases in hospitals. …
“I am afraid the question of why Palestine has not invoked the Genocide Convention takes us somewhere very dark. … It is Fatah who occupy the Palestinian seat at the United Nations, and the decision for Palestine to call into play the Genocide Convention lies with Mahmoud Abbas. It is more and more difficult daily to support Abbas. He seems extraordinarily passive, and the suspicion that he is more concerned with refighting the Palestinian civil war than with resisting the genocide is impossible to shake. By invoking the Genocide Convention he could put himself and Fatah back at the centre of the narrative. But he does nothing. I do not want to believe that corruption and a Blinken promise of inheriting Gaza are Mahmoud’s motivators. But at the moment, I cannot grab on to any other explanation to believe in.”
Thus speeches from Abbas and allied Palestinians figures should be viewed extremely skeptically. It is also very odd, to say the very least, that Francesca Albanese , Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, and other officials put out a statement “Gaza: UN experts call on international community to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people” — but make no mention whatever of the Genocide Convention.
As Murray writes: “Any one of the 139 states party could invoke the Genocide Convention against Israel and its co-conspirators. Those states include Iran, Russia, Libya, Malaysia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Afghanistan, Cuba, Ireland, Iceland, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey and Qatar. But not one of these states has called out the genocide [by invoking the Convention]. Why?
“It is not because the Genocide Convention is a dead letter. It is not. It was invoked against Serbia by Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ICJ ruled against Serbia with regard to the massacre at Srebrenica.” Murray notes that this helped lead to prosecutions.
He adds: “Some states may simply not have thought of it. For Arab states in particular, the fact that Palestine itself has not invoked the Genocide Convention may provide an excuse. EU states can hide behind bloc unanimity.
“But I am afraid that the truth is that no state cares sufficiently about the thousands of Palestinian children already killed and thousands more who will shortly be killed, to introduce another factor of hostility in their relationship with the United States. Just as at [the recent] summit in Saudi Arabia, where Islamic countries could not agree [on] an oil and gas boycott of Israel, the truth is that those in power really do not care about a genocide in Gaza. They care about their own interests.
“It just needs one state to invoke the Genocide Convention and change the narrative and the international dynamic. That will only happen through the power of the people in pressing the idea on their governments. This is where everybody can do a little something to add to the pressure. Please do what you can.”
What can you do? Urge countries which have been critical of Israel to invoke the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. Get groups and influential people to make this a primary ask.
Protests in NYC should include visits and vigils to the missions of those countries. Activists who have been arrested for protesting against Israel’s slaughter can ask UN officials from countries critical of Israel to invoke the Genocide Convention.
Palestinians in Ramallah may be able to directly contact the representatives of various countries to Palestine.
This can be done anywhere. Protests in London can respectfully appeal to the embassies of various countries critical of Israel.
We need to keep pressing directly against the US and Israeli governments, but their hearts are like stone. If we reach other states to invoke the Genocide Convention, it may be a key stop in curtailing the slaughter.
Moreover, it could be a turning point in global relations. Should a positive emergency ruling by the International Court of Justice be forthcoming, it would dramatically isolate the US and Israel at the UN. The US would of course try to block anything at the UN Security Council. But with a World Court ruling, Boyle argues, the stage would be set for the General Assembly to assert itself using the Uniting for Peace procedure. Combined with sustained protests, like the WTO and other critical confrontations, the costs of continuing the slaughter could become unsustainable. Moreover, a World Court ruling could facilitate other legal efforts, like universal jurisdiction.
For all that to happen, a country needs to step forward and invoke the Genocide Convention.
Make no mistake; any nation that does this may well be targeted in insidious ways by the US and by Israel. Any such nation should be afforded every bit of support people of goodwill can muster.
Here‘s a website that seems to list all the embassies and other diplomatic missions around the world. People from anywhere can be emailing, calling and going to these embassies and missions, urging these countries to use every legal mechanism to pressure Israel to stop, including invoking the Genocide Convention: embassy-worldwide.com.
A friend extracted emails of missions to the UN:
info(at)afghanistan-un.org
mission.newyork(at)mfa.gov.al
officeofthepr.albania(at)mfa.gov.al
algeriamission.ny(at)gmail.com
contact(at)andorraun.org