UN General Assembly Opens with Ever Greater Urgency to Uphold the International Rule of Law

 

NEW YORK, September 22, 2025— As world leaders gather in New York for the High-Level segment of the UN General Assembly, the urgency to uphold the international rule of law is more important than ever. The ongoing genocide in Gaza presents a profound challenge to the integrity of that legal order and demands the collective action of States to uphold their binding legal obligations under international law. In the face of unspeakable cruelty and flagrant violations of the most fundamental norms of international law, including the prohibition of genocide – a prohibition in the form of a peremptory norm (jus cogens) – failure to act now constitutes a profound abdication of both legal and moral responsibility.

All States must take immediate and effective measures, within the scope of international law, to prevent the continuation of genocide in Gaza. Enshrined in the 1948 Genocide Convention, the principle of preventing and punishing genocide obliges the international community to act decisively when such atrocities are being committed. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented evidence that Israeli authorities and security forces have committed and continue to perpetrate four of the five acts of genocide, as defined under the Convention.

The 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice clarified that such ongoing violations call for urgent legal redress. In September 2024, the UN General Assembly requested that Israel end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory within twelve months. The failure of Israeli authorities to comply with the deadline set by the UN General Assembly only heightens the international community’s responsibility to seek accountability and redress.  

There can be no environmental or climate justice while the universal and indivisible nature of human rights faces such grave and flagrant violations. We unequivocally repudiate this assault on the international legal order, bear solemn witness to these egregious atrocities, and affirm our deepest solidarity with the Palestinian people in their pursuit of justice, self-determination, and the full realization of their rights under international law.

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