April 9, 2024 (EIRNS)—The International Court of Justice today stated, in the case of “Alleged Breaches of Certain International Obligations in Respect of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Nicaragua v. Germany), that: “Nicaragua respectfully requests the Court, as a matter of extreme urgency, pending the Court’s determination of this case on the merits,” to issue “provisional measures with respect to Germany in its participation in the ongoing plausible genocide” whereby “Germany must immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance, export and authorization of export of military equipment and war weapons, in so far as this aid is used or could be used to commit or to facilitate serious violations of the Genocide Convention, international humanitarian law or other peremptory norms of general international law….” Further, this also applies to equipment already delivered, so that they must act to “immediately ensure” the relevant items are taken out of the actions described above.
Nicaragua presented its case yesterday, with Germany’s defense argued today. Germany’s DW reported that the head of Germany’s legal team, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, argued that Nicaragua had a “one-sided” view of the Israel-Hamas war, that their case ignored “facts and the law,” that it is based on flimsy evidence, and that it should be thrown out, due to lack of jurisdiction. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that Germany was put on notice that the World Court considered the charge of ongoing genocide to be legally plausible, and that Germany keeps sending weaponry into the conflict against their legal responsibilities as a signer of the Genocide Convention.
DW reported Uslar-Gleichen’s admission that Germany sends “arms and other military equipment,” but also her objection that “the quality and purposes of these supplies have been grossly distorted by Nicaragua. Unlike Nicaragua, Germany is not blind to the fact that Hamas also has obligations under international humanitarian law…. Germany is doing its utmost to live up to its responsibility vis-à-vis both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.”
Christian Tams, also on the legal team, explained that arms export licenses are assessed case-by-case and exceed international requirements. “For every license that is granted, the German government assesses whether there is a clear risk that the particular item, subject to licensing, would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or great breaches of the Geneva Convention.” Apparently, there are such things as “non-great” breaches, which Tams did not address.
