The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has rejected a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel, as well as renew funding to UNRWA.
The court ruled against the request in a 15-1 vote.
“The court by 15 votes to one finds that the circumstances…are not such as to require [the] exercise of its power under Article 41 of the statute to indicate provisional measures,” Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam said.
However, the judges did not grant the German request to throw out the case altogether.
The court will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case, which will likely take months.
Salam said the court was “deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.”
“The Court recalls that pursuant to Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions, all States parties are under an obligation ‘to respect and to ensure respect’ for the Conventions ‘in all circumstances’.
“It follows from that provision that every State party to these Conventions, ‘whether or not it is a party to a specific conflict, is under an obligation to ensure that the requirements of the instruments in question are complied with’.”
Nawaf Salam
He added that the court “considers it particularly important to remind all states of their international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict, in order to avoid the risk that such arms might be used” to violate international law.
The German Foreign Office wrote on X after the ruling that it welcomed the ICJ decision.
“Germany is not a party to the conflict in the Middle East. On the contrary: we are working day and night for a two-state solution,” the ministry said.
It stressed, “We are the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. We are working to ensure that aid reaches the people in Gaza.”
“However, we also see that the terror of Oct. 7 has set off this new spiral of suffering, against which Israel must defend itself,” it added, stating, “Over 100 hostages are still in the hands of Hamas, which is abusing the people of Gaza as shields.”
Not A Complete Victory For Germany
Meanwhile, Moataz El Fegiery, Head of the human rights program at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, opined that the ICJ decision did not constitute a victory for Germany.
“The court reminded Germany that it is obliged under international law not to provide weapons that could be used in human rights violations,” he said.
The expert asserted that the court also specified that conditions at the present moment did not warrant for provisional measures, implying that circumstances may change and that such a decision could be reached in the future.
El Fegiery said that Nicaragua’s case was part of a “global mobilisation” for Gaza that was likely going to trigger lawsuits challenging arms sales in domestic courts.
“It’s not the end of the story. There is a legal battle that will continue and many other issues that the court will deal with, with regards to jurisdiction to examine the case or the merit.
“There is also South Africa versus Israel, and actually Nicaragua intervened in this case as well … of course we hoped that today there would be some measures because this would be an important legal message to many other countries that are right now supporting Israel with weapons and arms.”
Moataz El Fegiery
“But I think even if the court today dismissed the measures, there is also some kind of political message in the whole process,” he added.
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