Barbados’ foreign policy being challenged in court

CMPI, supported by the Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine (CAAP), is urging Government to align its foreign policy with its obligations under international humanitarian law, amid overwhelming global evidence of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the Palestinian people.

The case, initiated by CMPI secretary David Denny, is being led by human rights attorney and secretary of the CAAP, Lalu Hanuman. It was lodged in the High Court against the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Immigration Department and the Attorney General.

The matter is slated for hearing on Monday. The two organisations are charging that Israel committed genocide and crimes against humanity for the “continuing killing, starvation and displacement of the Palestinian people”.

The CMPI and CAAP are calling on the institutions – and Barbados – to take immediate and concrete action in response to the “ongoing genocide in Gaza” and to uphold their constitutional and international legal responsibilities.

It wants the Supreme Court to declare that:

• Israel is committing genocide in Gaza;

• Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza;

• Israel is guilty of crimes against humanity in Gaza;

• Israel is operating an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people;

• a failure by the DPP to investigate or prosecute any person in Barbados involved in the genocide in Gaza constitutes a violation of both the Genocide Act and Article 11 of the Barbados Constitution, which protects the right to life, liberty and security of the person;

• rigorous screening must be implemented at all ports for Israeli passport holders; and

• any individual involved in genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity must be prosecuted and deported regardless of diplomatic status.

The State had made an application for a striking out of the claim, awarding of cost and any other relief on the grounds that:

• the statement of claim was not actionable against the defendants;

• was outside the jurisdiction of the court;

• the claimant failed to demonstrate it has been directly affected by or has sufficient interest in the issues raised;

• no identifiable or specific cause of action has been disclosed;

• the matter is an abuse of the Supreme Court (Civil Procedure Rules, 2008); and

• the claims are inimical to the overriding objective of the Supreme Court rules.

When the matter went before Justice Dr Patrick Wells on July 2, he allowed the claimant leave to file written submissions in reply to aspects of the Attorney General’s application, and ordered that all parties file written submissions on the issue of the court’s jurisdiction to hear the claim, and the issue of the claimant’s locus standi, by tomorrow.

Denny, in giving the reason behind the action, stated in a release: “Barbados and CARICOM stood at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. We cannot now turn a blind eye to a modern-day apartheid and genocide. To remain silent, or worse, to maintain ‘business as usual’ with Israel, is not neutrality, it is complicity.”

Barbados, contended the claimant, is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Charter, Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions – all of which impose binding obligations to act against war crimes and genocide. Therefore, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, Barbados is required to investigate and prosecute individuals accused of such crimes if they are present on Barbadian soil. ( AC)