A year has passed since the tragic events of 7 October and the disproportionate military reaction of the Israeli army, accompanied by unprecedented violations of human rights described by UN experts and several NGOs as “ongoing genocide” against the Palestinian people. In all that time, the international community has not managed to achieve a ceasefire on the various belligerents involved in this war in Gaza and Lebanon, despite a UN Security Council Resolution requiring this.
In Gaza, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed; hundreds of thousands are injured and disabled for life; thousands have been forced to leave not only their homes but also their country. Journalists, medical and humanitarian personnel and UN employees have paid with their lives for their professional and humanitarian commitment. The Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza and no diplomatic solution has yet been found. To the contrary, they are doubly victimised by both their kidnappers and by the Israeli Government, which has exploited their plight for world-wide propaganda that in the meanwhile continued its ruthless onslaught in Gaza, killing those who had managed to escape, and systematically side-lining their families as they called for a ceasefire to bring their loved ones home.
We mourn all civilian victims and survivors of all the attacks over the past 365 days, and the days, months and years before that, grieve for their families. The time has long past come to stop the killing and allow shattered communities to begin rebuilding their lives.
No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) calls for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the violence devastating the Middle East, and for justice and accountability for the massive and systematic attacks against civilians, and countless other violations of international law. We urge Israel to heed the call of the world, including their closest allies, for an immediate and full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2735/2024.
Impunity feeds violence. The atrocities committed today are not only a result of the leaders seeking to retain power through continuous cycles of violence: they are directly linked to a lack of accountability for past violations. It is also due to Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and the denial to recognize the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
We urge the ICC to act without further delay on reaching a determination on whether or not to issue longstanding requests for arrest warrants, lest their procrastination be a further confirmation that violence and intimidation, including of international institutions such as the ICC, the OHCHR, UN Special Procedures, should be rewarded while continued impunity emboldens those who violate the rights of civilians. We also call on all States, including particularly State Parties who have a direct obligation to fully support the ICC in discharging its mandate, to arrest outstanding fugitives from justice, and in so doing demonstrate with concrete action that impunity will no longer be tolerated.
There is no peace without justice. The complicity of members of the international community with the crimes being committed on a daily basis undermines the fabric of the international legal system, just as the failure to act on past crimes has led us to this moment.
We urge all parties to cease hostilities immediately and work towards a future built on accountability, respect for human rights, the enforcement of international law and on the respect of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian People.
Only by ending the Israeli military occupation of Palestine, impunity and delivering justice can we hope to break the cycle of violence and create the conditions for lasting peace in the Middle East.
