South Africa: In a press release by the government of South Africa on 29th December 2023, South Africa filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice.
ICJ is a principal judicial organ of the United Nations concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crimes of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Applicant states that “Israel, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide” and that “Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinians people in Gaza”.
The Application also contains a request for the indication of provisional measures under Article 41 of the statute of the court and Articles 73,74 and 75 of the rules of the court. The applicant requests the court to indicate provisional measures to “protect against further, serve and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinians.
It was also mentioned in the application that South Africa seeks to find the Court’s jurisdiction on Article 36 paragraph 1, of the statute of the court and on Article 11 of the genocide convention to which both South Africa and Israel are parties and signatories.
Under Article 74 of the rules of the court,” (a) request for the indication of the provisional measures shall have a priority over all other cases. It’s the article under which a nation could compel courts to seek the application.
The International Court of Justice was established in 1945 under the United Nations charter and it began its activities in 1946 April. The ICJ is composed of different types of judges constituting in total of 15 judges and they are elected for a term of 9 years by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations.
