The International Court of Justice has refused to enforce emergency measures against Germany in connection with the Gaza war. Among other things, it was about arms exports to Israel. Nicaragua sued.
The United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, has exonerated Germany of the charge of “facilitating genocide”. Nicaragua had sued over German arms exports to Israel.
The Central American country had demanded that the court order Germany to stop these and other deliveries. The argument: There is a serious risk of genocide in the Gaza Strip because of the actions of the Israeli military. Berlin is therefore violating the 1948 Genocide Convention because it continues to supply Israel with weapons. Nicaragua pointed to a previous ICJ ruling that it was plausible that Israel violated some rights guaranteed under the Genocide Convention during its attack on Gaza.
But the UN judges rejected the demand for immediate measures against Germany. “The court finds that the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power to order interim measures,” it said. However, when announcing the decision, the ICJ emphasized its “deep concern” about the situation in Gaza.
Procedure not completely stopped
At the same time, the court refused to completely stop the proceedings against Germany. Only Nicaragua’s urgent application was rejected. The country had requested five emergency measures, including an export ban and the immediate resumption of support for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.
Germany suspended this in January because UNRWA employees were accused of being involved in the radical Islamic Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. However, after the publication of an investigation report on the UN aid agency, the federal government announced last week that payments would be resumed.
Federal Government welcomes decision
The federal government welcomed the decision. Germany is “not a party to the conflict in the Middle East,” emphasized the Foreign Office in a statement on
However, the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th “started this new spiral of suffering against which Israel must defend itself,” the Foreign Office continued. “There are still over 100 hostages in the hands of Hamas, which is using the people of Gaza as shields.”
Deliveries always defended
Germany had rejected Nicaragua’s allegations at all times. The Federal Republic delivers weapons “only on the basis of a careful examination that goes far beyond the requirements of international law,” the head of the legal department and international law advisor at the Foreign Office, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, told the International Court of Justice at the beginning of April. Because of Germany’s history, Israel’s security is “at the center of German foreign policy.”
One of Nicaragua’s representatives, German lawyer Daniel Müller, however, accused Germany of, on the one hand, providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and, on the other hand, “supplying the military equipment that is used to kill them.” Israel’s closest ally is actually the USA – but Nicaragua has appealed to the ICJ against Germany because the USA does not recognize the court, the country’s lawyers explained.
Nicaragua allied with Iran
The authoritarian Nicaragua is considered an ally of Iran, which in turn is an archenemy of Israel. In the wake of the war in Gaza, tensions have increased throughout the Middle East: there are almost daily battles on the Lebanese-Israeli border between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is allied with Hamas, and the Israeli army. The long-running conflict between Israel and its arch-enemy Iran broke out into the open when Iran attacked Israel from its territory for the first time in mid-April.