A landmark legal challenge has begun in the High Court involving two foreign nations at war, as the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) presses for urgent national action on what it describes as Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.
The historic case, heard by Justice Dr Herbert Patrick Wells on Wednesday, calls on the Government of Barbados to align its foreign policy with international humanitarian law amid “overwhelming global evidence of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people”.
Justice Wells stressed the need for the matter to proceed swiftly, citing the accelerating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The case was brought by CMPI Secretary David McDonald Denny and is led by human rights attorney and Secretary of the Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine (CAAP), Lalu Hanuman. It names as respondents the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Immigration Department, and the Attorney General.
The claimants are seeking six core declarations from the Supreme Court: that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza; that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza; that Israel is guilty of crimes against humanity in Gaza; that Israel is operating an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people; and that a failure by the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate or prosecute any person in Barbados allegedly connected to the conflict constitutes a breach of the Genocide Act and Article 11 of the Barbados Constitution, which protects the right to life, liberty, and security of the person.
A declaration is also being sought that rigorous screening must be implemented at all ports of entry to Barbados for Israeli passport holders, and that any person linked to war crimes or genocide must either be prosecuted locally or deported in accordance with Barbados law, regardless of diplomatic status.
Members of CAAP attended Wednesday’s proceedings in support of the action, along with students from the University of the West Indies’ Faculty of Law.
The hearing has been adjourned until Monday, July 21. (EJ)
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