Global South 'asserts claim' on int'l law despite Gaza violations

As Israel shows no restraint in its industrial-scale bloodbath in Gaza, much of the global community is feeling anger, disillusionment and collective loss, with many losing faith in international institutions and law.

For months, legal professionals have been questioning the function and fairness of global institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Nothing has changed in Gaza, however.

TRT World spoke to various experts at the conference titled “Rethinking International Law After Gaza”, hosted by Türkiye’s Bogazici University in Istanbul. They pointed at some of the core problems in the enforcement of international criminal law.

“Just as powerful entities like corporations in the US manipulate legal frameworks to maintain their dominance, such as through tax evasion, this dynamic translates internationally to the exploitation of the Global South,” Shahab Saqib, lecturer at Leicester Law School, tells TRT World on the sidelines of the conference.

Addressing the conference attendees, Luigi Daniele, a lecturer at Nottingham School of Law, said that the genocide in Gaza is less about the structural features of international law and more about Israel being treated as an “exception” regarding accountability and justice.

Daniele argued that “rethinking international law after Gaza”, a theme of his presentation, has become far more important in light of the reckless violence Israel has imposed on Palestinians.

Israel’s actions have been widely regarded as genocidal by human right groups, exemplifying a wide range of international law violations.

For the first time in the past 76 years of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is investigating Tel Aviv for genocide.

As several states have stepped up to pursue the case of genocide against Israel at the ICJ, some positive developments have occurred in the form of arrest warrants being issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. A similar ICC judgement was passed on some Hamas officials.

Yet, there has been no tangible improvement in Gaza. Since October 7 last year, the Israeli army has killed at least 39,699 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded over 91,722 others.

In complete violation of international law and norms, Israeli forces have targeted journalists, aid and rescue workers, and medical professionals. Israeli forces have been found guilty of torturing and raping detainees who are held without trial or charges, while simultaneously enforcing harsh apartheid-like policies in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Israeli exception

Israeli authorities have objected to ICC cases on the grounds that the court lacks jurisdiction over its actions, as it’s not a member of the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty that established the ICC.

However, the ICC can act against Israeli officials because Palestine, a non-member observer state at the UN General Assembly, is under Israeli occupation.

Additionally, the Four Geneva Conventions, ratified by every country including Israel and Palestine, have been cited by various UN bodies since October 7 as being subject to “grave breaches” by Israel.

At the Bogazici conference, Daniele tells TRT World that Western political elites are perpetuating this conception of Israel “as a state above the law to which international humanitarian law and war crimes regulations don't apply.”

Shahab Saqib, lecturer at Leicester Law School, echoed a similar view, saying power dynamics imposed by the US and its allies have turned international law into a tool of coercion for countries that are at odds with the Western political elite.

Many regional observers have pointed out that Israel has a long history of attacking and threatening ICC officials in order to sabotage any investigation into its war crimes.

While doing so, Tel Aviv has always enjoyed the support of the US, a country that champions “rules-based-international-order”. Instead of supporting institutions like the ICC, Washington has previously imposed sanctions on the ICC for investigating American war crimes in Afghanistan. The US has now put additional sanctions on the ICC in response to its Prosecutor Karim Khan issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials.

The UN Security Council has the powers to refer the cases of state violence to the ICC, but with the approval of its five member states- US, Britain, France, Russia, and China. One veto from one of the five powers will prevent the security council from involving the ICC into war crime investigation. In case of the Palestine-Israel conflict, the US has used its veto power repeatedly to block ceasefire resolutions for Gaza at the UNSC.

Reshaping power dynamics

Despite its shortcomings, experts argue that international law still remains a key platform for seeking solutions.

“For the past 15 years, whenever Palestinian civilians have been killed en masse, there has always been a Western scholar ready to blog about the legality of killing Palestinians,” Daniele says.

He argues that misconceptions about "genocidal intent" are among the primary distortions of the laws of war, and there is a prevalent misconception in Western legal debates regarding the standards for establishing genocidal intent.

“Many scholars around the world are confusing this standard as if genocidal intent must be the sole purpose. They argue that if an action aimed at destroying a group also has other purposes, it cannot be considered genocide by definition. But this is crazy,” he says.

“This is crazy because no genocide in history has framed the destruction of the victim group as the sole and ultimate purpose.”

However, he also adds that international law professionals still have the potential to make a significant impact as the US has lost some of its influence, and other global powers are gaining prominence.

“The world doesn't operate solely through brute force; it also functions through persuasive power—the ability to influence and guide various segments of society and the global community.”

Shahab Saqib says redefining the legal discourse and dismantling the unjust Western dominance over the Global South, which includes normalising stereotyping as well as the use of dehumanising language against non-Western people.

Na’eem Jeenah, the executive director of the Johannesburg-based Afro-Middle East Centre, tells TRT World that while international law was not originally designed to be used by or even against non-Western populations, the Global South is increasingly asserting its claim on international law to promote justice rather than serving the interests of the powerful.

“We are at a crucial moment—one that could lead to significant change if seized effectively,” he says.

“This opportunity has the potential to reshape not only our understanding of international law but also the global power dynamics moving forward.”