Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360°
Nicaragua formally submitted an application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Germany, accusing the country of both failing to prevent a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, but also of having “contributed to the commission of genocide”.
In its request, Nicaragua asked the ICJ to declare that Germany has failed to uphold its obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide in Gaza, by providing support to Israel and by cutting funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa).
The application asks the court to “adjudge and declare” that Germany has violated international humanitarian law, including its obligations under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.
It also says the European country has failed to comply with other non-derogable international norms by aiding Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, including the ongoing onslaught on Gaza.
Nicaragua also called on the World Court to order Germany to halt its aid and support to Israel.
Nicaragua takes Germany to ICJ for ‘failing to prevent genocide’
Managua’s lawyers accused Berlin of taking a ‘Pontius Pilate-like’ stance by arguing that, despite arming Israel, they are not directly involved in the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a public hearing on 8 April to consider Nicaragua’s request for provisional measures against Germany over its support for Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza.
“My task this morning is to set out some of the facts underlying the dispute between Nicaragua and the Federal Republic [of Germany] brought before the court,” German lawyer Daniel Muller said at the start of the hearing, representing the Central American nation. He stressed that the case focuses on Managua’s demands that Berlin stop arming Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
“To put it simply, the highest German officials have recognized that the situation in Gaza raises doubts about the respect of elementary rules of international law and that these questions need to be addressed,” Muller said. “Yet, while we speak, the export of German weapons and military equipment to Israel likely to be used to commit these grave violations of international law is continuing,” he added.
Muller also highlighted that Germany’s suspension of funding to UNRWA “jeopardized” vital aid for displaced Palestinians, as the country was the second largest donor to the agency after the US.
“After having suspended the development aid to the occupied Palestinian territory in October 2023, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development released funds initially earmarked for UNRWA’s operation in Gaza with the federal minister saying: UNRWA is the most important partner for providing assistance to the people in the Gaza Strip,” the German lawyer revealed.
Muller was followed by French lawyer Alain Pellet, who, after taking the podium, stressed that Germany is “only responsible through its own breaches of its own international obligations linked to this horrific situation” in Gaza.
“[Germany] is responsible to the extent that these breaches have made possible or facilitated these grave violations of general international legal norms directed at the Palestinian people, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the occupied territories and in Israel itself … It is this that justifies both Nicaragua’s application addressed at Germany and also the request for provisional measures,” Pellet said.
He also accused Germany of taking a “Pontius Pilate-like” stance by making their defense that Berlin has not itself committed acts of genocide or directly engaged in Gaza. Pellet pointed to Article 3 under the UN’s Genocide Convention, which outlines “complicity in genocide” as a punishable act.
“Germany was aware and continues to be aware of the risk of the weapons they are furnishing could be used by Israel to commit genocide against the Palestinians,” the French lawyer said.
“It is extremely urgent that Germany suspend its aid they are supplying to Israel to this end. This aid and assistance are straight from the definition of ‘complicity’ set out in Article 3,” he added.
The last speaker of the day was Nicaraguan Ambassador to the Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, who told the judges at The Hague that “Germany cannot but be aware that the munitions, the military equipment, and the war weapons it is supplying” to Israel are supporting the genocide in Gaza.
“It does not matter if an artillery shell is delivered straight from Germany to an Israeli tank shelling a hospital or university, or whether that artillery shell goes to replenish Israel’s stockpile for use at some later date … It doesn’t matter whether the planes used in combat to drop one-ton bombs [on Gaza’s population] were made entirely in Germany, or just their spare parts and maintenance were supplied,” Gomez continued.
“The fact is that the assurance of supplies and replacement of armaments is crucial to Israel’s pursuit of the attacks in Gaza,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, the official read Nicaragua’s request for the ICJ to order provisional measures that include an immediate halt of German aid to Israel – in particular military assistance – a resumption of funding for UNRWA, and for Berlin to ensure that military equipment or weapons already delivered by Germany and German entities to Israel are “not used to commit or to facilitate serious violations of the Genocide Convention or international humanitarian law.”
Monday’s hearing comes just over two months after the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling against Israel in a genocide case brought by South Africa, in which the World Court urged Tel Aviv to stop acts in Gaza that violate the Genocide Convention and to allow essential humanitarian aid, including fuel, into the besieged enclave.
Carlos Argüello Gómez, the Nicaraguan Ambassador to the Netherlands, was speaking during the opening of Nicaragua’s case against Germany at the ICJ accusing Germany of continuing to facilitate Israel’s onslaught against Gaza despite preliminary orders from the ICJ for Israel to prevent a genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) begins a two-day hearing to consider Nicaragua’s request for provisional measures against Germany over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
Nicaragua will argue that Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions by providing Israel with military aid to use during its war on Gaza.
Last month, Nicaragua also asked the ICJ to issue emergency measures for Berlin to stop funding Israel and reverse its decision to cut support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
“By sending military equipment and now defunding UNRWA, which provides essential support to the civilian population, Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide,” Nicaragua said in its filing of the case.
Raymond Murphy, a human rights lawyer and professor of law at the University of Galway, has told Al Jazeera from Ireland that Nicaragua’s case against Germany is “a very important case”.
“It seeks to clarify certain legal issues … At the heart of this case, there are two legal issues – what does the obligation to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide mean and what exactly are the obligations that follow from the Geneva Conventions and Common Article 1 which requires all states to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law,” he said.
“The case has great relevance not just for Gaza but also for all the states that manufacture weapons and supply states and other parties with weapons that are ultimately used to commit violations of international law, of humanitarian law, the convention against genocide and a whole host of other international measures that seek to protect civilian and other vulnerable groups,” Murphy added.
Emma Olive 