The Australian government has suspended funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency, the agency mandated to provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, after Israel alleged some UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks. UNRWA says it has terminated the employment of people alleged to be involved, and is investigating.
We wrote to the Foreign Minister to urge a reversal of the decision. We told the Minister:
Your decision cripples UNRWA’s ability to provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to Gaza’s civilian population, undermines the authority of the International Court of Justice, and makes Australia complicit with conduct that may amount to genocide.
The ICJ has established that “the civilian population in the Gaza Strip remains extremely vulnerable” and has found that “Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” It is notable that this measure was supported by 16 of the 17 ICJ judges, including the judge from Israel.
The Court also established that “at least some of the acts and omissions alleged…to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention” and found that Israel must prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of the convention, with specific reference to the act of “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II, para. (c)).
Increasing UN agencies’ access to Gaza is an effective measure that Israel can take to fulfil the Court’s directives on the provision of aid and prevention of genocidal acts. UNRWA is the UN agency mandated to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Yet Australia has suspended its funding to UNRWA…
Read the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention’s response to withdrawal of funding to UNRWA.