Monday 10 December 2012

Petition: "End impunity in Palestine: calling for investigation and prosecution by the International Criminal Court "

In January 2009, in the wake of the 2008-2009 Israeli offensive ‘Operation Cast Lead’, the Palestinian National Authority lodged a declaration accepting the exercise of jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, pursuant to Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute. In April 2012, the then Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, turned down this request, declaring that he was not competent to decide whether Palestine is a State such that it can accept the jurisdiction of the ICC. This decision by the prosecutor of the ICC had the effect of denying the people of Palestine access to justice at the international level for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed against them by Israel. In doing so, the Prosecutor not only overstepped his mandate, by exercising judicial rather than prosecuting power, he also disregarded Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “[…] no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”


The only judicial recourse available to Palestinians at present is to file a complaint with the Israeli Military Advocate General (a criminal procedure) and the compensation officer of the Israeli Ministry of Defense (a civil, or tort procedure). Previous efforts to seek justice through the Israeli court system have been ineffective, failing to lead to any substantive delivery of justice. We have worked for many years within the Israeli judicial system, trying to achieve justice and accountability for Palestinian victims; this experience has unequivocally proven that the system is incapable of ensuring an effective remedy for Palestinian victims. This conclusion was confirmed by the UN Committee of Experts following the so-called ‘Operation Cast Lead’ of 2008-2009. The Committee stated: “the official inquiry must be conducted by a truly independent body, given the obvious conflict inherent in the military’s examining its own role in designing and executing ‘Operation Cast Lead’”. Sign Petition and more

2 comments:

Greg Bacon said...

Even if Palestine files, Israel can tell the ICC to PO and not much will happen.

Or Apartheid Israel could hold a sham trial, drag itout for years, then give the defendant a slap on the wrist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court

w said...

Agree, there's only ONE solution and most people know what that solution is