OTTAWA - The Green Party of Canada welcomes the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Prosecutor applications for arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the situation in the State of Palestine against three Hamas commanders and two Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It will be up to the three judges composing the Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I to independently determine whether these arrest warrants should be issued.
The Liberal government’s equivocal response to the applications falls woefully short of thesteady defence of international rule of law and justice Canadians expect our country to espouse as a founding member of the ICC.
Greens call on the Government of Canada to clearly and unequivocally reaffirm not only its respect but its unwavering support for international law, the ICC, the International Court of Justice and the independence of their institutions.
The Liberal government must at once stop playing into the false narrative of moral equivalence. In front of the law, everyone is and must remain equal. The parties are not measured against one another but against the law.
From now on, it is crucial that the Liberal government refrains from declarations and actions that might negatively interfere with the work of the ICC and ICJ and commits itself publicly to respecting and enforcing their decisions, whichever they may be.
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