Urgent appeal for the implementation of ICJ’s provisional measures in Palestine – Letter from the Islamic Republic of Iran (A/78/910-S/2024/452)

10 June 2024

Letter dated 10 June 2024 from the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit herewith a letter dated 28 May 2024 from Ali Bagheri Kani, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, addressed to you regarding the recent provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, dated 24 May 2024, ordering the Israeli occupying regime to immediately halt its military offensive and any other actions in Rafah (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would circulate the present letter and its annex as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 35 and 72 (b), and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Amir Saeid Iravani

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 10 June 2024 from the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

Pursuant to previous letters of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the occupying Israeli regime’s genocidal invasion of the Gaza Strip, including the letter dated 19 February 2024 (A/78/777-S/2024/174), once again, I deem it necessary to underline the crucial role and inevitable responsibility of the United Nations with respect to the ongoing massacre in the occupied Palestinian territories by the Israeli regime.

Despite widespread condemnation and global outrage, and in spite of the decree of the International Court of Justice dated 24 May 2024 ordering the occupying aggressor regime to, “in conformity with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by civilians in the Rafah Governorate: (a) immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (b) maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance; (c) take effective measures to ensure the unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip of any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or other investigative body mandated by competent organs of the United Nations to investigate allegations of genocide”, just days after the Court’s ruling the international community has witnessed deeply distressing scenes following the air strikes on a displacement camp in Rafah killing at least 45 people qualifying as another phase in the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian nation.

This is withstanding the fact that around 1 million innocent civilians have fled to Rafah over the past three weeks, ironically, to take shelter and protect themselves from the Israeli regime’s air strikes and ground operations, only to find that there remains nowhere safe to go, facing a sense of abandonment sans food, sans water, with piles of waste, rubble and wreckage, struggling to survive in utterly unsuitable living conditions. Even the providing of assistance and protection by humanitarian entities has become nearly impossible due to the genocidal acts of the occupying regime.

I wish to reiterate that the international community is legally and morally duty-bound to stop and prevent the genocide of the Palestinian nation. It is imperative to ensure the immediate and unhindered fulfilment of all their humanitarian needs. The United Nations has a duty to urge all of its Member States to refrain from collaborating with the aggressor regime; such collaboration could constitute their complicity in the commission of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and entail their international responsibility. Meanwhile, the Security Council must shoulder its responsibilities enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations in this regard.

The international community is bound to urgently put an end to the ongoing atrocities perpetrated in the occupied Palestinian territories and protect innocent civilians. In this context, it is highly expected that you utilize all means available with the collaboration of States Members of the United Nations to put pressure on the Israeli regime in order to compel it to abide by the binding provisional measure of the International Court of Justice and stop genocide of the Palestinian people.

Furthermore, I would like to emphasize the obligation to prevent genocide arising from the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; while recalling the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security as per Article 24 of the Charter as well as your responsibility under Article 99 thereof, I must underline that the jus cogens character of the obligation to prevent genocide implies that all States, specifically those that provide support to the Israeli regime, are legally under the duty to prevent genocide, in particular, by ceasing to provide any aid to the genocidal regime. It is also obvious that any effort to paralyse the Security Council by obstructing it from taking appropriate measures to stop and prevent the Israeli genocidal attacks in Gaza, including in Rafah, through using the veto power of one permanent member would place the responsibility on the shoulders of the Security Council and particularly on the member that has prevented the Security Council from adopting its binding resolutions to halt Israeli aggression from the onset of the genocidal attempts.

It is high time that the international community demonstrated unity in urging and compelling the Israeli aggressor regime to fully, immediately and effectively implement the provisional measures indicated in the International Court of Justice orders of 26 January 2024, 28 March 2024 and 24 May 2024.

We are confident that under your able leadership the ongoing global demands for justice will not remain unanswered.

(Signed) Ali Bagheri Kani

Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs