“All states must ‘ensure respect’ for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law,” a media statement quoted the experts as saying.
“States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition — or parts for them — if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behavior, that they would be used to violate international law.”
According to the experts, such transfers are prohibited even if the exporting state does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law — or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way — as long as there is a clear risk.
Meanwhile, the UN experts welcomed the decision of a Dutch appeals court on Feb. 12 ordering the Netherlands to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.
The court found that there was a “clear risk” that the parts would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law, as “there are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases.”
Israel has repeatedly failed to comply with international law, said the experts.
They noted that states party to the Arms Trade Treaty have additional treaty obligations to deny arms exports if they “know” that the arms “would” be used to commit international crimes, or if there is an “overriding risk” that the arms transferred “could” be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.
EU member states are further bound by the bloc’s arms export control laws.
“The need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened by the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Jan. 26, 2024, that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then,” the experts said.
The Genocide Convention of 1948 requires states parties to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent genocide in another state as far as possible.
“This necessitates halting arms exports in the present circumstances,” the experts added.
They further welcomed the suspension of arms transfers to Israel by Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the Japanese company Itochu Corp.
The EU also recently discouraged arms exports to Israel.
Moreover, the experts urged other states to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel, including export licenses and military aid.
The US and Germany are by far the largest arms exporters and shipments have increased since the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7. Other military exporters include France, the UK, Canada and Australia.
The experts further noted that arms transfers to Hamas and other armed groups are also prohibited by international law, given their grave violations of international humanitarian law during the October attack, including hostage-taking and subsequent indiscriminate rocket fire.
The duty to “ensure respect” for humanitarian law applies “in all circumstances”, including when Israel claims it is countering terrorism.
Military intelligence must also not be shared where there is a clear risk that it would be used to violate international humanitarian law.
“State officials involved in arms exports may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide,” the experts said.
Palestinian human rights organizations have accused UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu of failing to warn of a possible genocide in Gaza.
Sixteen groups have written to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Nderitu issued a statement in October that failed to criticize Israel for its military actions in Gaza, saying only “innocent civilians should never pay the price of a conflict for which they bear no responsibility.”
The signatories complained there had been a “glaring absence of any action in response to the sustained mass atrocities endured by Palestinians in Gaza,” and that the statement by Nderitu raised “significant concerns about the special adviser’s capability to execute her mandate with due effectiveness and impartiality.”
Nderitu’s role includes working on initiatives to safeguard people from crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
The groups, including the Palestinian Human Rights Council, said Nderitu had failed to engage with them on the issue of Gaza, canceled meetings with human rights advocates, failed to warn of a potential genocide in Gaza or speak out more broadly against Israel’s actions, and made no comment following the January findings by the International Court of Justice that there was a strong risk to Palestinian civilians in the enclave under the Genocide Convention.
The letter compared her to nine UN special rapporteurs who all highlighted the imminent risk of genocidal acts in Gaza on Oct. 19, eight others who did so on Nov. 2, and a further 41 UN independent experts who called for action to stop a genocide in Gaza on Nov. 16.
The letter continued, saying that “principles of genocide prevention must be universally applied, without making any special allowances or exceptions for anyone, including Israel.”
It added: “The foundation of the special adviser’s mandate is grounded in the lessons learned from past failure by the international community as a whole, including the UN, to undertake meaningful preventive efforts ahead of the genocide in Rwanda or Srebrenica.”
In January, Israel rejected allegations of genocidal behavior by its forces in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the ICJ findings, saying: “The charge of genocide leveled against Israel is not only false, it’s outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it.”
