The Voices of Survivors from The Hague: Ongoing Genocide Before International Justice

QADER for Community Development participated in the event “Dialogue with Survivors and Pathways to Justice,” held in The Hague, at the invitation of legal Action Worldwide organisation.The event took place on the margin of the hearings convened by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since 12 January 2026, in connection with the Court’s consideration of the case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar concerning the crime of genocide committed against the Rohingya, and in relation to the case instituted by South Africa against Israel and the provisional measures issued by the Court in this regard. This participation unfolded within a legal and human rights framework aimed at restoring the centrality of survivors’ voices within international justice debates and linking accountability pathways to the lived experiences of victims, amid the ongoing commission of crimes and the widening gap between legal recognition and the provision of effective protection.

In its intervention, QADER affirmed that the facts under discussion cannot be understood as an isolated or transient event, nor as separate instances of grave violations. Rather, they fall within the legal concept of genocide as a continuing crime in its constituent elements and manifestations, from the perspective of international criminal law, as articulated in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Rome Statute. Genocide is not confined to a single form; it encompasses integrated patterns of conduct, including starvation, siege, forcible transfer, and the deliberate imposition of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a human group, in whole or in part. This characterization constitutes a legal qualification grounded in international law, rather than a rhetorical or political assertion, and accurately reflects the nature and continued commission of the crime over time.

In this context, QADER emphasized that survivors’ perceptions of international justice pathways, whether in Palestine, Myanmar, Bosnia, Darfur, or elsewhere, are shaped by their direct experiences and their ongoing suffering under the crime of crimes, rather than by abstract legal recognition alone. Survivors view justice as a process that is meant to provide protection and bring genocide to an end, not merely to describe it or defer its consequences. Accordingly, any international justice pathway that fails to translate into tangible impacts on the lived realities of victims, or to put an end to their enduring pain and suffering, remains through their eyes an incomplete path, regardless of its legal or symbolic significance.

QADER concluded its participation in the victims’ dialogue in The Hague by underscoring that the protection, support, empowerment, and redress of genocide victims in Palestine and wherever they may be in the world, constitute a legal and moral responsibility borne by all States, as well as by the United Nations and its bodies and agencies. Human dignity, QADER stressed, is indivisible and cannot be subject to selective or interest-based considerations. QADER further emphasized that the international response must not be limited to statements that merely describe or condemn the crime, but must instead focus on dismantling its structures, suppressing its commission, ensuring accountability for perpetrators, securing justice for victims, and adopting effective measures to prevent its continuation or the perpetuation of impunity.

Building on this, QADER presented during the international dialogue a set of strategic perspectives and recommendations aimed at strengthening effective protection, preserving memory and evidence in crimes that are not subject to statutes of limitation, and enabling victims to become active partners in the pursuit of justice rather than mere objects of it. In doing so, QADER affirmed its readiness to place its specialized legal and human rights expertise at the service of these justice pathways.

Strategic Recommendations and Perspectives for the Protection of Victims and the Strengthening of Justice Pathways

Adopting the Judicial Track within an Integrated Package of Justice Pathways

Emphasizing the importance of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, as a central tool for holding States accountable for the crime of genocide, while underscoring that the effectiveness of this track cannot be realized in isolation from complementary political, diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian pathways that activate judicial measures and give them preventive and practical effect. Despite its centrality, the judicial track remains limited in impact unless it is linked to effective enforcement, protection mechanisms, and pressure tools that ensure the cessation of the crime, the protection of victims, and the prevention of impunity.

Establishing an Independent International Genocide Observatory

Calling for the establishment of an independent international observatory to serve as a unifying framework for preserving the collective memory of genocide victims worldwide, a permanent platform for survivors’ voices, and a mechanism for monitoring the ongoing patterns of genocide in its various forms, without reducing it to moments of peak violence or direct killing. The proposed observatory aims to unify international efforts, enhance the effectiveness of shared resources, and link documentation with advocacy and accountability, thereby ensuring a comprehensive and non-selective approach to victim protection, free from discrimination or double standards.

An International Monitoring and Documentation Unit under the Observatory

Establishing a specialized unit tasked with collecting, classifying, and preserving evidence related to international crimes in accordance with recognized criminal standards and the chain of custody, thereby ensuring the quality of evidence, preventing its loss, affirming the non-applicability of statutes of limitation to international crimes, and enabling its future use in international and national accountability pathways. This proposal draws on existing international models in The Hague, including the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) established under the auspices of Eurojust, demonstrating the feasibility of adopting comparable professional mechanisms for evidence preservation and victim protection, while simultaneously exposing the selectivity that characterizes the activation of international justice tools.

Engaging Survivors as Partners throughout the Justice Process

Shifting from treating survivors of genocide merely as sources of testimony to recognizing them as active partners in documentation, priority-setting, advocacy, and memory preservation, thereby restoring the human dimension of justice and strengthening its legitimacy and credibility.

Linking Judicial Measures to Effective Enforcement and Protection Mechanisms

Transforming the provisional measures and orders issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Palestinian situation and in the case of The Gambia against Myanmar from mere legal acknowledgements of the gravity of the situation into tangible and effective protection tools on the ground. This requires the establishment of clear and transparent follow-up mechanisms, precise delineation of compliance responsibilities, and the activation of States’ obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to ensure enforcement of the measures, protection of victims, and the prevention of the continuation of international crimes or a culture of impunity.

Holding Third States Parties Accountable for Their Legal Responsibilities

Affirming the obligation of all States to refrain from any form of contribution to or complicity in the crime of genocide in any manner, and to take concrete and effective measures to ensure compliance with international judicial measures, including meaningful diplomatic pressure, restrictions on forms of support, and the cessation of any direct or indirect contribution that facilitates the continuation of international crimes or impunity.

Launching International Advocacy Campaigns Grounded in Legally Classified Documentation

Launching international advocacy campaigns based on reliable data classified in accordance with United Nations monitoring standards and the standards of the International Criminal Court (ICC), ensuring the quality, credibility, and usability of evidence in judicial and advocacy pathways, and restoring the centrality of victims’ suffering, particularly in genocide crimes, to the heart of international debate, free from selectivity and politicization.

Institutionalizing Victims’ Narratives within Justice and Advocacy Pathways

Ensuring the integration of victims’ and survivors’ testimonies as an essential and central component of the legal and human rights narrative, preventing the reduction of human suffering to numbers or abstract technical descriptions, safeguarding the human and ethical dimension of justice, and strengthening its credibility and sustainability.

In conclusion,

History records not only those who perpetrate international crimes, foremost among them the crime of genocide -the crime of crimes- but also those who were capable of preventing or stopping them and failed to do so, or who were complicit through silence or double standards. True justice is not that which merely condemns the crime after its commission, but that which translates into effective protection for victims, prevents the recurrence of crimes, and preserves memory from erasure.