Edited by Deepali Verma
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the International Court of Justice has vindicated his country’s decision to charge Israel of genocide over the course of its military offensive in Gaza.
The ICJ stopped short of ordering a ceasefire in Gaza but ordered that Israel try to contain death and damage in its military offensive. This ruling came on January 26. South Africa brought the case and had asked for the court to order Israel to halt its operation.
The top UN Court court came to a decision to not throw out genocide charges against Israel for its military offensive in Gaza, as result of a preliminary decision in the case.
Ramaphosa, in a national TV Broadcast, said that the International Court of Justice on January 26, issued a ruling that is “a victory for international law, for human rights, and for justice”.
“The conclusion of the court is that pursuant to Article 9 of the (1948 Genocide) Convention, it has jurisdiction to adjudicate our application. The effect of the order that the ICJ has granted today is that there exists a plausible case of genocide. This follows the unprecedented action taken by South Africa to take another country to the International Court of Justice,” said he.
The president said the ICJ ruling marked a significant primary step in South Africa’s quest to ensure delivery of justice for the people of Gaza.
“Some instructed us to mind our own business while the others said it was not our place. However, it is very much our place because we are the people who are too well acquainted with the pain of dispossession, discrimination and state-sponsored violence. We were the victims of the crime of apartheid so we know what apartheid looks like. We experienced and lived through it. Unfortunately, several people died and were exiled like our beloved leader Oliver Tambo. Others were jailed much like Nelson Mandela while others were maimed,” Ramaphosa said.
He said, “As South Africans, will refuse to be passive bystanders and watch the crimes that were upon us, be perpetrated elsewhere. We stand on the side of freedom and justice for all.” Paraphrasing a Nelson Mandela statement made 30 years ago when he was elected South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Ramaphosa said, “We remark again that never and never again shall it be that genocide acts are perpetrated with impunity as we, the international community look on.”
The president said he firmly believes that following this judgement there should be increasing effort towards a ceasefire.
“Negotiations should now be started on a permanent two-state solution, to facilitate Israel and Palestine living side by side as independent states,” he said, expressing his gratitude for those in the international community who were in support of South Africa’s application to the ICJ.
“We stand firm in our commitment to the Palestinian people and their quest for self-determination. Our own painful history obliges us to do no less. We are thankful to the International Court of Justice for upholding its role of achieving justice, promoting peace, preventing genocide and holding those guilty of genocide accountable,” Ramaphosa said.
The filing of ICJ application by South Africa took place on December 29 last year, arguing that Israel stood in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The ICJ, principal judicial organ of the United Nations, handed down a ruling that Israel should implement a set of provisional measures to shield any further acts of genocide in Gaza, desist from such acts, and take effective measures to hold back the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence relating to acts of genocide.
“We expect Israel, as a self-proclaimed democracy, will respect the rule of law to abide by the measures handed down by the International Court of Justice. More than half a century of occupation, dispossession, oppression and apartheid, the Palestinian people’s cries for justice have received notice by an eminent organ of the United Nations,” Ramaphosa concluded.
