Hague Group Meeting ‘Most Significant Development’ for Gaza – Albanese
According to the Hague Group, states meeting in Bogota will announce “concrete actions to enforce international law through coordinated state action — to end the genocide and ensure justice and accountability.”
Vowing not to be silenced in the face of US sanctions against her, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says the 30-nation Hague Group meeting in Colombia is “the most significant political development in the past 20 months,” the Guardian reported.
The emergency meeting, from July 15 to 16, in Bogota has been reconvened “in response to Israel’s ongoing and escalating violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the crime of genocide, and will focus on coordinated legal and diplomatic measures to bring them to an end,” according to the group’s website.
Honored to join the #HagueGroup at the Emergency Meeting on Gaza, called by Colombia South Africa, 15–16 July in Bogotá.
The Hague Group opens the door to a different future — rooted in law and accountability. Will other States walk through it? They should: they have an… https://t.co/57TkEAs7wL pic.twitter.com/IGyiq9BD8q
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 12, 2025
Albanese, who will address the meeting, said it comes at “an existential hour” for Israel and the Palestinian people.
“For too long, international law has been treated as optional – applied selectively to those perceived as weak, ignored by those acting as the powerful. This double standard has eroded the very foundations of the legal order. That era must end,” she will say in Bogotá, according to the Guardian.
The special rapporteur emphasized that “The world will remember what we, states and individuals, did in this moment – whether we recoiled in fear or rose in defence of human dignity.”
Time to ‘Act’
She stressed that at the conference, the “growing number of states” will have the opportunity to “break the silence and revert to a path of legality by finally saying: enough. Enough impunity. Enough empty rhetoric. Enough exceptionalism. Enough complicity.”
Francesca Albanese, Palestine Action, and the End of International Law
Albanese stated that the time has come “to act in pursuit of justice and peace – grounded in rights and freedoms for all, and not mere privileges for some, at the expense of the annihilation of others.”
She hoped “more states will align their policies with these fundamental principles as we move forward in this existential hour – for both the Palestinian and the Israeli people, and the integrity of the international legal order itself.”
US Sanctions
Last Wednesday, the US government imposed sanctions on Albanese for what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said were her “illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt ICC action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
Albanese has documented the Israeli extermination of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in several reports and called for the prosecution of the parties and individuals involved.
My last report is downloadable on Rainews’ platform: quite a development.
Thank to the conscientious journalists who have worked hard, from within the system, to have my findings and analyses land on mainstream platforms during this genocide. https://t.co/SvT8Cznzoc pic.twitter.com/8qHj0BjFIb— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) July 15, 2025
According to the Hague Group, states meeting in Bogota will announce “concrete actions to enforce international law through coordinated state action — to end the genocide and ensure justice and accountability.”
The Hague Group was established in The Hague on January 31, 2025 — by the states of Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal, and South Africa, “in response to the grave violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Ongoing Genocide in Gaza
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 57,000, wounding more than 137,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in Israeli airstrikes targeting various areas across the Gaza Strip, as the genocidal war waged by Israel, with US support, continues unabated for the 648th day.
The Emergency and Ambulance Service reported that five Palestinians… pic.twitter.com/ZfzwBKlkjn
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) July 15, 2025
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(The Palestine Chronicle)