Media Review Network (MRN) welcomes the announcement by the South African government that Justice Dikgang Moseneke has been nominated to serve as a judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
As explained by Dirco head of public diplomacy Mr Clayson Monyela, under Article 31, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, a state party, in this case South Africa which does not have a judge of its nationality on the Bench may choose a person to sit as judge ad hoc in that specific case.
“Accordingly, SA has approached Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who has agreed to join the other ICJ judges on the bench & hear our case against Israel.”
Monyela also explained that Prof Dire Tladi starts his tenure as an ICJ judge in February 2024.
As a State Party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, South Africa is under a treaty obligation to prevent genocide from occurring.
On 29 December, following a cabinet decision South Africa filed an urgent application at the ICJ in The Hague, the Netherlands, “in which the court is requested to declare on an urgent basis that Israel is in breach of its obligations in terms of the Genocide Convention, should immediately cease all acts and measures in breach of those obligations and take a number of related actions”.
In congratulating South Africa for its crucial intervention to hold Israel accountable for the heinous crime of genocide, we are reminded of the dire warning issued by the icon of our freedom struggle against apartheid, Nelson Mandela whose words 30 years ago need to echo around the chambers of the ICJ: “Palestine is the greatest moral issue of our time”.
Issued by:
Iqbal Jassat
Executive Member
Media Review Network
Johannesburg
South Africa
+27 83 594 3749
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