QADER for Community Development Provides Urgent Briefing to the ICC Prosecutor and the ICJ

Today, Thursday, 23 May 2024, QADER for Community Development submitted a report to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan. The submission includes comprehensive and reliable information, detailed evidence, and legal analysis from their recent report titled "The Impact of the Israeli Aggression on Gaza on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Monitoring Violations, Legal Analysis, and Avenues for Accountability and Effective Remedies." This action is based on the provisions of Article (15) of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

On the same day, QADER also engaged with the legal team from South Africa, which has been pursuing a significant case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since December 2023. The case addresses the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, invoking the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Coinciding with the ICJ session scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, 24 May 2024, to consider "additional provisional measures" requested by South Africa’s legal team to halt the ongoing aggression against Gaza since 7 October 2023.

QADER provided South Africa’s legal team with a comprehensive briefing containing detailed information, legal analysis, and corroborated evidence from their report, which documents six months of systematic and widespread Israeli aggression on Gaza. This evidence includes verified data from UN bodies, specialized agencies, and international, regional, and independent local organizations, alongside numerous testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses about serious violations and international crimes documented by QADER field team in the Gaza Strip, over several months.

The written briefing includes a detailed account of grave breaches of international law and a legal analysis with reliable evidence of the forms of international crimes targeting civilians and civilian objects in the Gaza Strip, with a particular focus on the impact on persons with disabilities in Gaza. This analysis is grounded in international humanitarian law, customary international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law. It identifies and substantiates the forms of international crimes committed in Gaza, supported by reports from international commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions established following previous military attacks on Gaza since 2006, up to the ongoing aggression since 7 October 2023.

QADER reaffirms its unwavering commitment to innocent civilian victims, women, children, and persons with various disabilities, based on the principle of inclusivity in the Gaza Strip and the entire occupied Palestinian territories. QADER is determined to continue its efforts to defend their rights locally, regionally, and internationally at the level of international courts, international investigation committees, UN bodies, and specialized agencies to achieve effective remedies for Palestinian victims and international justice, and to realize the right to self-determination.

Please, see the full report, here