Declaration Of Intervention Pursuant to Article 63 of The Statute of The Court by The Netherlands / Iceland: Application of The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide In The Gaza Strip in South Africa V. Israel, International Criminal Court

Netherlands

34. In particular, with regard to acts that may amount to the deliberate infliction on the group of conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part under Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention, the Netherlands will argue that such acts are not limited to methods of destruction that would immediately cause the death of members of the group, but rather that such acts must be calculated to bring about their eventual physical destruction. This does not require the actual physical destruction to have occurred, but rather that the conditions were ‘calculated’ to bring about such destruction.

Iceland

40. Furthermore, while women are not inherently vulnerable, they may be placed in circumstances of vulnerability which require particular attention in the application of the Convention. Iceland emphasises the situation of pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, and those trying to conceive, as well as the overall conditions of maternity and reproductive health. In this respect, the application of Article II (c), as well as Article II (b), is without prejudice to the specific scope of Article II (d) addressing measures intended to prevent births within the protected group.