Ministers and officials from 32 countries met in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, on July 15–16 to develop strategies to stop Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. The “emergency conference” was organised by the Hague Group — an alliance of countries formed in January to hold Israel accountable under international law — in light of the Zionist state’s attempts to destroy Gaza and kill or displace its population.
The conference condemned the barbarity of Israel’s ramped-up destruction of Gaza, which has killed an estimated 186,000 people — mostly women and children — and deliberately destroyed hospitals, schools and refugee camps. However, only 12 of the countries in attendance committed to concrete measures aimed at curbing their complicity in Israel’s genocide.
Representatives of the 12 governments — Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and South Africa — released a joint statement on July 16 outlining six measures.
The countries declared a commitment to “prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment and dual-use items to Israel”, including the “transit, docking and servicing of vessels at any port” in their territory where there is a clear risk it being used to carry the goods to Israel.
The statement committed to reviewing all public contracts “to prevent public institutions and public funds … from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory”.
The countries declared they will comply with obligations to “ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law”. This presumably includes adhering to the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant issued by the International Criminal Court last year.
Finally, the statement signatories said they will support “universal jurisdiction mandates”, which allow states to prosecute individuals for certain crimes — such as crimes against humanity, genocide and torture — regardless of where the crime was committed and the nationality of the perpetrator or victim.
The 12 countries set a date of September 20, to coincide with the 80th United Nations General Assembly, for other countries to join in implementing the six measures.
While the measures agreed upon were limited in scope, they marked a so-far-unprecedented show of international cooperation in opposing Israel’s genocide.
Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told the conference on July 16 that the Hague Group “has the potential to signal not just a coalition, but a new moral centre in world politics”. She urged the countries in attendance to turn “commitment into concrete actions, legislatively, judicially in each of your jurisdictions”.
Alongside the official Hague Group conference, grassroots organisations organised a series of events, such as forums, press conferences and BDS assemblies, in Bogotá.
Students, human rights organisations and workers — representing unions such as the Colombian State and Public Services Workers Union and the Central Union of Workers — rallied in Bogotá’s main square, Plaza de Bolívar, on July 16 to show solidarity with the Palestinians and demand an end to Israel’s genocide.
The Colombian government has taken symbolic action against Israel, such as withdrawing its ambassador following the October 2023 attacks, cutting diplomatic ties in May last year and announcing a suspension of all arms purchases from Israel.
However, Gustavo Petro’s government has failed to move from words and symbolic gestures to concrete action.
The Colombian government has signed at least three contracts with Israeli military companies since February last year, including a US$2 million contract with Elbit Systems for maintenance of the Colombian national police’s phone-tapping platform.
Following a sustained grassroots campaign, Petro issued a decree in August last year establishing a ban on Colombian coal exports to Israel, which made up 60% of the Zionist state’s total coal imports in 2023. However, since then, at least 30 vessels cumulatively carrying more than 1 million tonnes of Colombian coal have reached Israeli ports, according to an analysis by Vorágine using official government data.
Large loopholes carved out of the decree have barely stopped the flow of coal crucial to fuelling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. US coal giant Drummond Company, who, along with Swiss multinational Glencore, is responsible for 90% of coal exports to Israel, declared that the decree has had no impact on its operations.
Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities — the most affected by the displacement, ecological ruin and violence brought by coal mining operations — have mobilised against the “double genocide” happening in their territories and in Palestine.
Other Hague Group members have taken stops to limit the flow of goods to Israel and prosecute the Zionist state under international law.
Malaysia banned all Israeli ships from docking in the country from December 2023, and also donated millions of dollars in aid to Gaza. However, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recently invited US President Donald Trump to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit being held in the country in October, which the Socialist Party of Malaysia condemned as “sheer hypocrisy”.
“Such a gesture is a blatant betrayal of all the efforts of solidarity with Palestine against US-backed genocide in Gaza by the murderous Israeli Zionist regime,” PSM said.
“A top government leader who enabled and supported genocide, like Donald Trump, should be treated as persona non grata rather than invited as a guest for a money-wasting diplomatic show.”
South Africa, co-chair of the Hague Group with Colombia, brought a case against Israel in the Internation Court of Justice in December 2023 for its violation of the UN’s Genocide Convention. However, South Africa is also the third-biggest exporter of coal to Israel, which it continues exporting in rising quantities.
The glaring contradictions between countries’ rhetoric and symbolic actions on the one hand, and their continued complicity in providing goods that enable Israel’s genocide, show that governments cannot solely be relied upon to stop the mass slaughter.
Workers’ and grassroots organising to build a mass movement in solidarity with Palestine and against Israel’s genocide is critical.
For example, dock workers — joined by hundreds of Palestine solidarity activists — at Greece’s Piraeus port, one of Europe’s biggest, blocked the transfer of military-steel bound for Israel on July 14. Markos Bekris, president of ENEDEP — the port’s container handling workers’ union — said that the union does not want to be complicit in enabling genocide.
“We do not want this military equipment to be used against the Palestinian people, who are struggling to establish their own state, nor do we want it to lead to the killing of women and children,” he said. “We do not stain our hands with the blood of innocent people.”
Dock workers at Fos-Marseille, France’s biggest port, refused to load machine gun components bound for Israel on June 4, forcing the ship to leave without its cargo.
Given the US’ unconditional support for Israel, a sustained global grassroots movement is the only hope in stopping the genocide of the Palestinian people.