The UN’s top court said on Friday that Nicaragua had filed a complaint at the International Court of Justice against Germany for defunding the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and providing financial and military support to Israel.
Nicaragua requested that the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court) impose emergency measures compelling Berlin to rescind its decision to cease supporting UNRWA and cease providing military assistance to Israel.
After a case is filed, the court typically schedules a hearing for any sought emergency measures within a few weeks.
Nicaragua claims that Germany is in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the laws of war and the 1948 Genocide Convention in the occupied Palestinian territories. “By sending military equipment and now defunding UNRWA which provides essential support to the civilian population, Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide,” Nicaragua said in its legal filings.
Leading financial supporters of UNRWA, such as the US and Germany, halted support in response to reports that perhaps 12 of the organization’s tens of thousands of Palestinian staff members may have been involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assaults in Israel.
Berlin’s “participation in the ongoing plausible genocide and serious breaches of international humanitarian law” in the Gaza Strip, according to Nicaragua’s submission, is another reason why emergency measures were required.
The case South Africa filed against Israel for allegedly perpetrating genocide against Palestinians in Gaza provides the foundation for this allegation.
In a ruling last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) upheld South Africa’s accusations that Israel had breached the Genocide Convention and issued an order for emergency measures that included a demand that Israel cease any further crimes of genocide in Gaza.
