Human Rights Watch issued a statement early this morning warning that parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention, who don’t act to stop genocide that they know or should know is ongoing, are complicit in that crime. “Hearing Israeli officials flaunt plans to squeeze Gaza’s 2 million people into an even tinier area while making the rest of the land uninhabitable should be treated like a five-alarm fire in London, Brussels, Paris, and Washington,” said Federico Borello, interim executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination.”
Israel’s stated plans in Gaza trigger the “duty to prevent” under the Genocide Convention, the statement continues. “For the 153 states that are parties to it, the duty to prevent genocide arises as soon as a state learns, or should normally have learned, of a serious risk that genocide may be committed.”
