- This past month, Spain refused permission for an Israel-bound ship carrying arms to call at the port of Cartagen. The Belgium government, similarly, has considered filing a complaint against an airline that transported 70 tons of ammunition through its airspace. Meanwhile, NGOs have filed a criminal complaint against a corporation using the port of Antwerp on the course of its trip from Hamburg to Israel to deliver weapons, and a coalition of transport trade unions in Italy, Greece, and Turkey have called on governments to stop the shipments of weapons heading to Israel.
- These efforts represent an increasing recognition among state and non-state actors that diplomatic measures have failed to ensure respect for international humanitarian law—a failure that calls for the enactment of coercive measures by third-party states. In this short piece, I elaborate on the state duty not to facilitate the transit of arms shipments going to Israel, including the transfer of jet fuel used for warplanes, and show that this duty is overdetermined by a wide array of international law.
Such a duty begins from the reality that Israel is currently undertaking grave violations of international law, which pose a threat to international peace and security. These violations include, among others, the violation of the people’s right of self-determination, the violation of the prohibition against permanent displacement of civilian populations, de facto annexation, the violation of a wide set of human rights conventions touching upon the rights of prisoners, the right to water, the right to life, the prohibition against torture and other cruel inhumane or degrading punishment, and the prohibition against racism and apartheid.
In addition, provisional measures issued by the ICJ, recognising the risk of genocide, have called upon Israel to stop all genocidal acts, enable access to humanitarian aid, and safeguard evidence.
Continue reading at https://lpeproject.org/blog/shipments-of-death/