Seminar – WILLIAM KENTRIDGE – Boundaries, space, time, identity and relation
February 12, 2024
Webinar – The Role of Law in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves
February 12, 2024
Webinar – The Right Side of History? An Analysis of the ICJ’s Provisional Measures Order in South Africa v Israel
Date: 16 February 2024
Time: 11:00 – 12:30 SAST
REGISTER IN ADVANCE TO JOIN ONLINE
Abstract:
On 29 December 2023 South Africa filed an application before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel. South Africa alleged that, in its response to the attack by Hamas and other militant armed groups on 7 October 2023, Israel has breached its obligations in terms of the Genocide Convention with respect to Palestinians in the Gaza strip. The ICJ delivered its decision on provisional measures on 26 January 2024. The Court held that the legal conditions for the indication of provisional measures had been met and that the actions by Israel in Gaza plausibly violated the Genocide Convention. Although the ICJ did not order an immediate cessation of hostilities as requested by South Africa, it issued six provisional orders including inter alia, that Israel must take all measures to prevent the incitement or commission of genocidal acts in Gaza; and that Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
The ICJ’s interim ruling is significant not only because it is binding on Israel, but also because the South Africa v Israel case has intensified the debate on the question of Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the two-state solution which countries including South Africa believe to be the key to ending hostilities between the two sides. Pertinent issues to be addressed with respect to the ICJ’s judgment include the options that are available to South Africa to enforce the judgment or compel Israel to comply; how justice for victims can be ensured and the distinct but closely related; joint referral of the case to the ICC by South Africa and other African states despite South Africa’s frosty relationship with the Court. The African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice (ACTCJ) will host a webinar on the ICJ judgment on Friday 16th February 2024 at 11:00-12:30 SAST. Dr Christopher Gevers from the University of KwaZulu Natal’s School of Law will unpack the interim judgment and its implications for the Court, and for South Africa’s foreign policy and commitment to international law.
Speaker:
Dr Christopher Gevers teaches International Law and Legal Theory in the School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is a Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School and a Faculty Member of the Institute for Global Law & Policy at Harvard Law School. He has degrees from UKZN, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, and Melbourne Law School; and has held fellowships at Harvard Law School of the University of Oxford. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the South African Journal of Human Rights. He has participated as an amicus curiae in cases before the US Supreme Court and the Israeli Supreme Court, and is assisting the State in the COSAS 4 case – the first crimes against humanity prosecution in South Africa, and the first prosecution of the crime of apartheid before a domestic or international court.