For Gandikota-Nellutla, collective action by states is the only antidote to "powerful nations seeking to protect Israel's illegal actions." Photo: The Hague Group.
Bogota, July 16 (RHC)-- The Hague Group began a two-day meeting in Bogota, Colombia on Tuesday. During her opening speech at the Emergency Ministerial Conference on Palestine, the Executive Secretary of the Hague Group, Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, called on states to act with courage and bravery and end Israel's impunity and the complicity of other states in the context of Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The Executive Secretary began her speech by thanking Colombia for organizing this "historic conference" and paying tribute to the legacy of Bolívar, whose struggle for the liberation of peoples, she affirmed, must illuminate the way.
Additionally, she recalled a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he challenged the authority of the International Court of Justice by stating that "no one can stop us, not even The Hague." The Executive Secretary lamented that, after 647 days of genocide, this statement proves true, justifying the urgent meeting in Bogotá.
Gandikota-Nellutla emphasized that the purpose of the conference is not to create new laws, as "the laws are clear." The Hague has spoken, the General Assembly has established the obligations of states, and the United Nations has declared Gaza the place with the greatest famine in the world. "It is not clarity that is lacking," she stated.
The statement emphasized that the deliberations over the next 24 hours will focus on measures that states have the courage to implement. These measures, buried in international law, are not optional, radical, or new; they are legally binding obligations under the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the United Nations Charter, the executive secretary pointed out.
Furthermore, she reiterated that collective action by states is the only antidote to "powerful nations that seek to protect Israel's illegal actions." She emphasized that there are moments in history that mark a before and after, and that this conference in Bogotá is one of those crucial moments.
Finally, she welcomed the states present and acknowledged that, although many flags may not be visible, the people of those countries are present and support Palestine.
October 7, 2023, marked a turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al Aqsa Flood. From that moment on, the Gaza Strip was the scene of a military offensive by Israel, which has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians to date.
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
