Write a letter to UN Ambassador Rae, Global Affairs Minister Joly and Assistant Deputy Minister Kessel. Let them know their response to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/77/247 is shameful.

Canada shouldn’t seek to block the ICJ from making an advisory opinion. It should support it.

While Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem and others detail Israeli apartheid, Canada’s submission to the ICJ suggests that the state committing war crimes and violating human rights should agree to the ICJ issuing an advisory opinion on the legal consequences that arise for all States and the UN from its occupation. It’s akin to asking a murderer to accept a court process.

Rather than considering the substantive legal issues included in the request for an ICJ advisory opinion, Canada has suggested the ICJ making an advisory opinion would polarize the issue because Israel does not agree to the process.

Canada's submission even contradicts Canada’s official position. Canadian policy says that under

“UN Security Council Resolutions 446 and 465, Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, [and] the settlements also constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”

Yet the Canadian submission opposes the ICJ considering the issue of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Canada’s 6-page statement is at odds with its own stated policy, international law and the rights of Palestinians. The Canadian government would do well to review the submissions of organizations such as Al-Haq and countries such as Ireland. Urge Canada to reconsider its stance on an ICJ advisory opinion on Palestine.

Read the ICJ release regarding advisory statements from member states and others.

Read more, including Canada's submission.

December 2023: with over 20,000 people killed including over 10,000 children by Israel over 75 days, close to 2 million people displaced, thousands still under rubble, 50,000 injured, and infrastructure destroyed including hospitals, schools, places of worship, homes and utilities, Canada is complicit in blocking the investigation of both war crimes and genocide.

Sponsored by:

Just Peace Advocates

The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (CFPI)

photo credit: peacequest.ca

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