The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will today announce a decision on requests for emergency measures in the “genocide” claim brought by the Republic of South Africa against Israel.
South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel on December 29th, 2023, alleging that it had breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention and requesting emergency measures to “prevent further, serious and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention”.
If the emergency measures requested by South Africa from the Court are accepted, although this decision will be binding on Israel, the process on the merits of the case is expected to take many years.
The decision that the Court will make today does not refer to whether Israel acted contrary to the Convention on Genocide but only implies temporary measures that the parties must adhere to until a final decision is made in the case in order to prevent damage from the possible threat of genocide.
While the Court considers it sufficient for South Africa to provide “reasonable” justifications in its consideration of the request for precautionary measures, it will review whether genocide occurred in Gaza on the merits of the case.
What will be the course of the case?
While emergency measures in the lawsuit for “genocide” are the first stage of the case, the next step is the stage of “initial objections”, and if the conditions of jurisdiction and admissibility of the Court are met, then a trial on the “merits of the case” is held.
Although the Court has progressed more quickly in processing cases in recent years, similar cases such as genocide seem to take more than ten years to complete.
What measures did South Africa ask for?
The Republic of South Africa is asking the Court to impose emergency measures to compel Israel “not to commit genocide, to prevent genocide, and to punish the perpetrators of genocide”.
The Republic of South Africa is seeking nine preliminary injunctions: to immediately end military operations in Gaza, not to take steps that would contribute to any military operation in Gaza by any group under its control, to take all reasonable measures necessary to prevent genocide against Palestinians, to refrain from any action that falls within the scope of Article 2 of the Genocide Convention, ensure that displaced persons return to their homes and have access to humanitarian aid, including adequate food, water, fuel, medical and hygiene supplies, shelter and clothing, take the necessary steps to punish those involved in the genocide, then preserve the evidence of the genocide and not prevent international officials and other officials from accessing Gaza for this purpose.
Among the measures is that Israel regularly submits reports to the Court on the implementation of the given measures and that it wants the court to order it to refrain from actions that would complicate or delay the case.
E.Dz.
