MORE GOOD NEWS Senior British lawyers have written to the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, urging it to investigate crimes committed in Gaza, including the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. The letter was sent by Kirsty Brimelow QC, the chair of the Bar Councils human rights committee, and was signed by a host of senior British barristers and law professors. The lawyers say that it is within the ICCs jurisdiction to act because the government of Palestine made a declaration in 2009 accepting the courts role and the UN has since acknowledged Palestine as a non-member observer state. Addressed to the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, it calls on the court to launch a preliminary inquiry into abuses committed during the conflict. THE LETTER STATES THE FOLLOWING: The initiation of an investigation would send a clear and unequivocal message to those involved in the commission of these crimes that the accountability and justice called for by the United Nations on the part of victims are not hollow watchwords. It would bring about an end to the impunity which has prevailed in the region to date, fuelling ever increasingly brutal cycles of violence. The international community cannot continue to act simply as witness to such bloodshed and extreme civilian suffering. This request is In response to the extreme gravity of the situation in the Gaza Strip, including spiralling civilian deaths and large-scale destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. The United Nations reports record that an estimated 23,304 air-to-surface missiles, tank shells and naval shells have been fired by Israel at the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its latest military assault on the territory on 7 July 2014, during the same period, 3,008 rockets have been fired by Palestinian armed groups at Israel, according to Israeli military sources, in addition to over 886 mortars, reported by the United Nations. The fatalities include entire families killed in their homes, patients killed in their hospital beds, doctors, paramedics, United Nations humanitarian workers and members of the press … Reports produced by non-governmental organisations following preliminary investigations strongly suggest that crimes within the jurisdiction of the international criminal court have been and are being committed. Among the many other signatories are Lady Helena Kennedy QC; Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC; Roy Amlot QC, the former chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales; Prof Bill Bowring of Birkbeck College; Edward Fitzgerald QC and Philippa Kaufman QC. BTW QC stands for Queens Counsel.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 19:37:49 +0000