No State above International Law
Statement by the Steering Committee of the Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2).
We hail the 6-point plan of the Hague Group Emergency Conference in Bogotá
The Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) Steering Committee praises Colombia and South Africa for their inspiring leadership in the Hague Group initiative, and particularly the organization of the two-day Emergency Summit on Palestine in Bogotá, where 30+ nations met to seek concrete measures to halt the genocide in Gaza.
As an independent platform of civil society organizations committed to the right to health and the vision of Health for All, the G2H2 SC called out the hypocrisy of the international community on Gaza and demanded an immediate ceasefire in December 2023. In May 2024, at a workshop dealing with the world in flames, G2H2 addressed the heating up of the geopolitical climate in the progressive normalization of limitless warfare in Gaza. Things have unspeakably worsened since then, as denial of survival for Palestinian people has become intentional, strategic, and part of Israel’s genocidal strategy. Indeed, the destruction of Gaza’s fragile healthcare system cannot be dismissed as a humanitarian crisis, but a deliberate method of biopolitical warfare.
We hail the creation of the Hague Group and its diplomatic effort at shaping a plan of action which includes legal and economic measures to restrain Israel’s systematic violations of international law through its assaults on the occupied Palestinian territories. The latest report of the UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese displays well how the corporate infrastructure that has stratified limitless financial gains through decades of unlawful forever-occupation has now deadly morphed into an economy profiting from the destruction of Palestine by the Israeli government. Israel’s genocidal plan simply cannot function, let alone succeed, without these entities. It’s high time their lack of accountability were seriously addressed.
We agree with Francesca Albanese: after a long time of hesitancy and inaction, the Hague initiative is “the most significant political development” since the beginning of Israel’s offensive and it comes at an existential conjuncture for the Palestinian people. The Hague Group serves as an essential policy compensation chamber for countries like Ireland, the first European country considering a legislation banning trade with Israeli partners operating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – an initiative that has sparked backlash in the US. G2H2 deplores the colonial aggression pursued by Western nations against well-meaning countries which, like Ireland, act at this reckoning juncture with justice-oriented policies.
We express our full support to the implementation of the measures agreed in Colombia, namely:
- Preventing the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel;
- Preventing the transit, docking, and servicing of ships at any port where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry the aforementioned items to Israel;
- Preventing the transportation of such items aboard vessels flagged in participating nations;
- Launching an urgent review of all public contracts to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and entrenching its unlawful presence;
- Complying with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious Israeli crimes under international law; and
- Supporting universal jurisdiction mandates in national legal frameworks and judiciaries to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in Palestine and encourages other member states to act accordingly.
We particularly endorse the text of the Bogotá Joint Statement calling for an immediate investigation report on the health and nutritional needs of the population in Gaza, while devising a plan to meet those essential life needs on a continuing and sustained basis. As we write this statement, the World Health Organization has denounced Israel’s recent ground offensive in central Gaza which is severely compromising its efforts at providing health assistance, after its premises have been attacked.
We are ready to second, support and monitor the implementation of the Hague Group plan. No state is above the law. We believe that the international community should consider advancing the suspension of Israel’s credentials at the United Nations before Israel’s impunity fatally contributes to dismantling what remains of the United Nations and international law. Governments have a duty to stop the scandal of this genocide NOW.
Contact for enquiries: Baba Aye and Nicoletta Dentico, G2H2 Co-Presidents