Ref: 2024/PR/322
Attorney General Ahmed Usham, as the Agent of the Republic of Maldives, has filed the Declaration of Intervention of the Republic of Maldives, pursuant to Article 63(2) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, in the case of the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), today.
The case was submitted to the ICJ by South Africa on 29th December 2023. South Africa alleges that Israel’s acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza have violated the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention).
The Maldives focuses its intervention on the proper construction of the provisions concerning the incitement to commit genocide and the duty to punish the incitement of genocide in Articles I, III, IV and VI of the Genocide Convention, and also intervenes on the proper construction of Articles II and IX of the Genocide Convention.
Acknowledging that the intervention is limited to construction of the provisions of the Genocide Convention, the Government of Maldives in other international forums, continues to condemn Israel’s multiple, serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which amounts to genocide and apartheid. Most recently, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, President of the Republic of Maldives, stated in his address at the General Debate of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly that “…the ongoing massacre – the genocide – by Israel in Gaza is a travesty of justice and the international system… Israel must be held accountable for these acts of terrorism, for these violations of international law and UN resolutions.”
The Maldives calls on Israel to halt its genocidal war against Palestine and calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The Maldives confirms its unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their pursuit of their inalienable rights, including the establishment of a sovereign and independent State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.