São Paulo – Palestine is joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) and 15 other international treaties and conventions. The United Nations (UN) secretary general Ban Ki-moon made the announcement last Tuesday evening (6th), according to the UN website.
The Arab country will become an ICC member state as of April 1st, under the ICC Rome Statute, which governs the international court. The original versions of the documents applying for treaties and conventions were delivered on January 1st to the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, James Rawley, in Ramallah.
According to the UN website, the government of Palestine has confirmed that it will seek retroactive action against Israel at the ICC, whose headquarters are located in Hague, the Netherlands, for alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2014.
During attacks in the second half of last year, 70 Israelis and over 2,000 Palestinians died. The conflict lasted 50 days and ended in August.
On January 2nd in New York, Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, told journalists that the retroactive action request had already been submitted to the ICC.
““We delivered last night a letter to the Office of the Registrar in The Hague requesting retroactivity with regard to the crimes committed during the last war in Gaza and reserving our right for other retroactive crimes committed by Israel,” Mansour said, according to the UN website.
Palestine is also joining conventions and treaties on transnational organized crime, biodiversity and ocean rights, among others. The Arab country’s adhesion to these treaties will become effective on different dates throughout the year.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
