In response to Canada’s incoming Ambassador to the United Nations David Lametti’s comments on CBC Radio’s The House about Canada’s hesitance to recognize that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, said:
“The Genocide Convention is clear: All states, including Canada, must use all means at their disposal – diplomatic, economic, legal and political – to stop a genocide already underway. The crisis in Gaza crossed that threshold more than 18 months ago, and the catastrophe has only deepened ever since. Rather than deliberate on the fate of a people whose very existence is under threat, or wait for ICJ decision which may take years, Canada must act now to save human lives and stop one of the grimmest human rights calamities of the 21st century from growing even worse. Inaction is not only inexcusable; it is a violation of Canada’s obligation to prevent genocide.”
Lametti made his comments on CBC Radio’s The House just days after the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released a report concluding that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In its report, the commission reminded states of the following: “Even in the absence of an express order by the International Court of Justice, all States have a duty to assess whether a violation of the Genocide Convention has occurred or may occur and take steps to determine their own obligations in preventing and punishing such acts.”
