Why we must join the Hague Group

“For a colonised people the most essential value…is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity”.–Frantz Fanon, ‘The Wretched of the Earth’

After 20 months into Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza – broadcast live on social media – something seismic has emerged: a violent shattering of the international rules-based order.

This new world reconfirms the Global South’s consistent accusations: that of international law and the rules-based order being a subjective tool of the most powerful countries of the world to be used if, when and how they wish.

Its applicability is not universal as the utopian idea first coined by Immanuel Kant in the 18th century. Instead, it hinges on geopolitical alliances, rooted in colonial and imperial frameworks of the past – where the law was, and is, used to ensure control and suppress dissent, not to deliver justice.

The modern-day brutal colonialist of our time is Israel.

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant, are the first of their kind against a Western ally. Hence the very vehement pushback by most Western governments. Biden called the warrants ‘outrageous’ and Downing Street announced challenging the jurisdiction of the ICC, which it later retracted.

The most formal pushback to the double standards has been the creation of the Progressive International’s Hague Group, formed in January 2025. It has emerged as a bold, collective governmental stance against the silence and indifference witnessed from both Western capitals and Arab leaders of the crimes Israel is committing in Gaza.

The group of eight countries include Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Namibia, Maylasia, Senegal and South Africa. The irony should not be lost on us that all members of the Hague Group are countries from the Global South.

Its premise is rooted in a fundamental principle that no country or people should be above the law. The shared interest of the group is guided by international law and seeks the implementation of the law to hold Israel to account. It calls on all governments to uphold their obligations based on the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ of July 2024 to take all action to stop to “assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. The group also demands an immediate ceasefire, banning arms to Israel and the working “towards realisation of the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination”.

Over the 20 months, the world has watched as Israel acts with near complete impunity. The notion that no nation is beyond accountability has been severely compromised since the onslaught on Gaza.

After watching Israel’s attempt to erase Gaza off the map, principles of freedom, life and self-determination, that are protected by the UN Charter now seem like radical ideas that require defending and fighting for all over again.

The Hague Group is the first of its kind, with a very specific focus – that of acknowledging the blatant violation of international law and the seeking of accountability of Israel and justice for Palestinians.

The group meets again in Bogota, at the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs between July 15 and 16. This is an emergency meeting, called because Israel is continuing the genocide, with the latest war crime being the targeting of hungry people queuing for food.

It is with great anticipation many of us, who have been organising, and protesting Israeli atrocities, will be looking at the group for reassurance and reaffirmation. It will serve as a space to amplify and centre the Palestinian cause - to bear witness to the devastation and loss endured and to call for Israel’s accountability.

The group’s principled and collective stance is a unique opportunity for the restructuring of the international order from how it currently operates – where allyship and geopolitics determines who should be held accountable and who should be given the green light to bomb and starve people as they wish.

We see Western leaders calling for the maximum punishment to be meted out to Russia and Putin over Ukraine while the lines blur on Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. This is despite Amnesty International, Oxfam, the UN, Human Rights Watch, genocide experts and over 800 UK legal experts’ clear stance that Israel is committing war crimes. The International Court of Justice has called Israel’s action as plausible genocide. But it seems no country can stop Israel from violently annihilating Gazans and occupying the Gaza Strip for good.

At the July meeting, the group should consider forming closer ties with people’s movements – with direct coordination and communication to civil society groups and organisers globally as shadow partners to the Hague Group of countries. This would serve as a tool for greater transparency, enabling us to hold governments accountable by ensuring their actions align with their words. It would also grant the group greater legitimacy, as movements and governments stand together with a shared purpose and focused commitment to the cause.

I am optimistic concrete next steps and outcomes will follow from the July meeting. I hope other countries in the global majority will join the group. After all, its primary focus is the upholding of international law. What countries will disagree with this premise?

The government of Pakistan must join the Hague Group. It is imperative that we formally express our solidarity with Palestine and those countries that are call for the upholding of international law. After all, we ourselves invoke international law in the case of Kashmir. We must do the same now for Palestine.

The Western-led international rules-based order, under which the concepts of universal freedom, peace and justice are professed, has been buried under the weight of Palestinian blood. The time has come to expose the irreparable cracks and glaring hypocrisy and hold Israel accountable for one of the most egregious violations of international law of our times.

The writer is a lawyer and development consultant. She tweets/posts @BenazirJatoi