Chile had announced its intention to file in June, and the formalities have now been completed. On Friday, Sept. 13, Chile filed its “declaration of intervention in the case concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ICCPR) in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).” In announcing the filing, President Gabriel Boric wrote that “the international community must do everything in its power to stop the massacre in Gaza. We cannot remain indifferent.“
People are re-circulating videos of President Boric announcing to Congress in June that Chile would file to join South Africa’s case, where the fervor in the country in support of doing so is heard in the response in the Chilean Congress: huge, prolonged applause throughout his remarks. As Trita Parsi commented in reposting it this week: “The sight of an entire country taking international law seriously.”
Approximately 450,000-500,000 among Chile’s 20 million people are of Palestinian descent.
