This year has witnessed the systematic destruction not only of Gaza but also of the foundations of global justice. No distinction has been made between combatants and civilians, as required by the Geneva Conventions
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the world has been waging an open war on the existence of Palestine and the Palestinian people. Despite statements to the contrary, most states, international organizations, courts, mainstream media, and academia in the Global North have become complicit in the first livestreamed genocide in human history. Humanity has lost the values and ethical foundations that have been developing and claiming over the past three centuries. Governments are either supporting the ongoing massacres by exporting weapons to the Israeli army, backing the occupier diplomatically, trading with it, remaining indifferent, or merely offering empty statements to their constituencies.
- The international system has lost its legitimacy
Humanity has forgotten the principles that underpinned the post-World War II global order. The UN Security Council has reached a deadlock, failing to take action to stop the genocide. The General Assembly has turned into a forum for useless speeches and unenforceable resolutions. The International Court of Justice has moved slowly and cannot enforce the cessation of genocidal acts even in Rafah. The court continues business as usual, as if no daily massacres are taking place before the eyes of its judges. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has timidly approached the issue of arrest warrants against Israeli war criminals, as though waiting for tens of thousands more children to be torn to pieces to act. Even ICC judges have become complicit in denying justice in Gaza, with their willful sluggishness in issuing arrest warrants for Israeli perpetrators, citing flimsy arguments such as the validity of the Oslo Accords. Global organizations have been paralyzed or unwilling to carry out their obligations to protect the suffering population. The system has lost its legitimacy and failed miserably.
This year has witnessed the systematic destruction not only of Gaza but also of the foundations of global justice. No distinction has been made between combatants and civilians, as required by the Geneva Conventions. There has been no respect for the principles of necessity or proportionality. Blind murder, systematic torture, the elimination of medics and journalists, and the destruction of hospitals, schools, universities, courts, municipalities, mosques, libraries, businesses, and UN Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) facilities fly in the face of all human rights instruments that humanity fought to develop in the past century. And humanity, along with international institutions and courts, just watches. Every state can do something to end this genocidal war: Shutting down embassies, imposing economic sanctions, divesting, enforcing arms embargoes, and boycotting aviation and communications are simple actions that states could take. Yet, no or little moves.
The genocide in Gaza has transformed international law once and for all. Before October 2023, attention was focused on the Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on the declining unipolar order. However, the Israeli bombardment, which spared no aspect of life in this non-stop genocide, and the world's inaction towards it have exposed the inherent flaws in the global legal order. Until recently, reform efforts focused on the imbalance in the UN system, particularly the Security Council and its veto power, and the emergence of a multipolar world. The unprecedented attacks on Gaza and the fears of a wider regional war with global repercussions have accelerated debates about the urgent need for multipolarity. International law after Oct. 7 will and must change forever.
- Universal law must be rebuilt
The unprecedented carnage in Gaza has exposed the existing gaps in key areas of international law and the need for inevitable reform beyond the current security system. International human rights law and its mechanisms must be revitalized. Humanitarian law needs concrete enforcement power. The ICC must be decolonized. The law of genocide should be reframed with enforceable prevention and accountability tools. Arms transfer laws and the criminalization of aiding and abetting must be strengthened. The law of sanctions and the principle of third-state obligations must be given concrete life. The universal jurisdiction of domestic courts in prosecuting international crimes needs to be revisited. The responsibility to protect must be upheld. Environmental law should include new concepts: ecocide, agricide, and democide as part of its enforceable rules. And the law of the sea and maritime occupation must become justiciable. The onslaught on Gaza reveals the urgency for universal legal reconstruction.
Humanity faces a moment of truth. Either we rise to end the genocide, or we allow savage conflicts to spread across the globe, making genocide the norm. Either we wake up now or we await a third world war that will force us to reform the global system. We, humanity, must ask ourselves: do we want a world governed by the law of the jungle, or can we rethink the current order, which has proven to be a fading relic? The choice is ours. And we can act now.
