State defends decision

FIJI’S intended presentation at the International Court of Justice in The Hague specifically responded to the December 2022 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 77/247, titled “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.

A government statement stated this resolution was adopted well before the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Among other countries, Fiji also made a written submission in 2023,” the statement read, adding that of the 57 countries that opted to make oral presentations, 11 countries, including Fiji, were concerned with the abuse of the ICJ on matters that should follow already established legally binding agreements and processes.

The statement also outlined Fiji’s main concerns, which included maintaining and upholding existing and binding legal frameworks, including those established specifically to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Fiji also submitted that the current case set a precedence for other ongoing conflicts which may be referred to the court, thereby undermining the court’s integrity, and that the court must not be used as a “political playground” to assert long-held presumptions and biases and misusing international law against its intended purpose.

The statement came as human rights activists slammed the Coalition administration for “a written submission to the ICJ, “in support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine”.

In a statement, Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights chairwoman Shamima Ali stated the submission placed Fiji alongside the US as one of only two countries endorsing such a stance.

The group has also called on the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs to “immediately declare” to the Fijian public as to who drafted the submissions on behalf of Fiji and why Fiji had taken this position.

“This position is profoundly troubling and starkly contrasts the values of justice, freedom, and international law that the Fijian people hold dear,” she said.

“The occupation has been widely recognised by the international community, including the United Nations, as a violation of international law and an impediment to peace and the self-determination of the Palestinian people.”