Global 195, led by the UK-based International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), launched on March 18 as a worldwide legal coalition that is set to hold accountable Israeli citizens and dual nationals involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The international initiative will seek to activate domestic and international legal mechanisms to pursue Israeli officials, soldiers and others accused of committing war crimes in the war-devastated Palestinian enclave.
It aims to apply for private arrest warrants and initiate legal proceedings in multiple jurisdictions wherever the alleged individuals may be.
Speaking at the launch press conference in London, the ICJP’s director Tayab Ali highlighted how the obstruction of international legal institutions and the failure of national police forces to uphold humanitarian law and universal jurisdiction have enabled impunity for Israeli individuals suspected of war crimes in Palestine.
“Under international law, states have a duty to investigate and prosecute war crimes, yet these obligations have been systematically neglected. The launch of Global 195 is a necessary legal intervention to remedy this failure.”, Ali stated.
Named after the UN’s 193 members plus two observer states, one of which is Palestine, the coalition comprises legal experts and former detectives who have gathered evidence from Gaza to build cases under universal jurisdiction.
Its goal is to set up independent legal groups in every country and use national legal systems to subject war crime suspects to legal accountability.
Legal practitioners and organisations across a number of countries are joining the worldwide alliances, which so far include Canada, Norway, Turkey, Malaysia, Bosnia, and the UK.
Global 195 targets IDF personnel and Israeli military and political leaders directly or indirectly responsible for violations of international law.
Universal jurisdiction
The initiative allows legal groups to file complaints to national law enforcement agencies and private prosecutions in national courts against suspected war criminals who are either nationals of those countries or present within their jurisdiction.
“This procedural tool enables private citizens to uphold the rule of law in jurisdictions that permit private prosecutions, without relying on states”, Shane Martinez, a criminal defence and human rights lawyer who heads the ICJP’s branch in Canada, told The New Arab.
The attorney previously told media that several Canadian lawyers were commencing criminal proceedings against nationals and charities who are supporting or fighting for the Israeli military, in breach of Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act and Foreign Enlistment Act.
In an interview with TNA, Christophe Paulussen, acting academic director of the Asser Institute which produces international law research, welcomed this new push to fight impunity for international crimes, but also remarked: “What’s important is that all suspects of international crimes are brought to justice, regardless of their nationality or where the crimes were committed”.
Paulussen, who specialises in international criminal law and international humanitarian law, noted that Global 195 is pushing for the application of both universal jurisdiction and jurisdiction based on the active nationality principle, allowing prosecution when the perpetrator has the nationality of the prosecuting state.
Systematic Israeli war crimes
The evidence used by the coalition has been collected by the ICJP’s investigation team over the past 18 months, and meets British and international criminal legal standards.
The compendium includes 135 eyewitness testimonies backed by open-source intelligence taken across the Gaza Strip. Investigative findings reveal systematic violations, from indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing of civilians to deliberate targeting of vital infrastructure, attacks on ‘safe zones’ and airstrikes on refugee camps, use of starvation as a weapon of war, and forced displacement.
In the face of such a clear-cut accounting of Israeli war crimes, legal accountability is urgently needed.
“I wholeheartedly welcome Global 195. Justice for Palestine starts ‘at home, and it will be delivered in every country it is needed.”, said UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese expressing her endorsement.
The legal front was established to hold perpetrators accountable where international bodies and states fail to prosecute war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
“All initiatives supporting the Palestinian people’s rights and holding perpetrators accountable are encouraged”, said Tahseen Elayyan, a legal researcher of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, commenting on the new campaign.
Third states present major challenges
Yet, bringing these cases to courts worldwide presents major challenges.
Paulussen explained that one key complication is securing credible evidence that not only proves that international crimes occurred but also “links specific crimes to individual perpetrators” amid a chaotic context of conflict.
He highlighted another significant difficulty: the newly established coalition lacks a state apparatus and the substantial financial and human resources that come with it.
Beyond that, political considerations likely influence states’ willingness to prosecute Israeli war crimes. This is most evident in the ongoing reluctance of certain governments to enforce legal action against Israeli individuals despite their involvement in war crimes and other violations.
Israel is already facing an advanced genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) filed by South Africa, while the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking the arrests of Prime Minister Netanyahu and former defence minister Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. But key countries, including the United States, which has not ratified the Rome Statute, have ignored the warrants, and last month, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the ICC.
Elayyan was firm in saying that the lack of political will from third states is the biggest obstacle to holding Israeli officials accountable for serious crimes against Palestinians. He stressed that such unwillingness has manifested itself in the form of selectivity and double standards, now “clear features of third states’ politics” in their approach to Palestine versus other countries.
Al Haq’s legal specialist argued that, given past failures with universal jurisdiction in the Palestinian context, it would be worth seeking support from Global South countries, which are less concerned about their relations with Israel and the US.
“Cases should be filed in countries willing to stand firm in the face of political and economic pressure from Israel, the US and their allies”, the Palestinian human rights defender said.
Numerous countries have consistently called for Israel to be held accountable for its actions in Gaza.
While Martinez acknowledged powerful nations’ reticence to meet their obligations and their complicity in Israel’s offenses, he observed growing readiness from Global South countries to oppose Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
“In the coming months, we’re going to see smaller countries more willing to stand up for human rights, and taking on more leadership in initiatives like Global 195” , the ICJP’s Canada lawyer predicted.
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Unique opportunity
UN experts, international jurists, and human rights groups have found that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza, along with grave crimes like indiscriminate killings, torture, sexual violence, starvation as a weapon, and forced displacement.
Global 195 comes on the heels of last September’s establishment of the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgium-based legal group seeking arrest warrants for alleged Israeli war criminals traveling abroad.
In the UK, early preparations have already been made to pursue legal action against British citizens suspected of involvement in war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
It is unclear whether the legal effort may set a precedent for pressing charges against war criminals through the use of private prosecutions.
“It may assist in bringing a case before the judges in a state whose legal system recognises such private prosecutions”, Paulussen said adding that if it works in one state, similar cases may follow in others that also recognise private prosecutions.
The international law expert remarked that if the territorial state, Israel, fails to act on war crime allegations, and with international courts only being able to address the tip of the iceberg, it is only “natural” that the focus will shift to the potential of national courts in other states, using universal or other criminal jurisdiction principles, such as the active or passive nationality principles.
Martinez vowed to strive alongside other members of Global 195 to achieve accountability. “It’s a unique opportunity to put war criminals on notice that we’re watching and taking action wherever the evidence allows us to”, the human rights advocate emphasised.
In 18 months of its ferocious offensive, Israel has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and left Gaza in ruins, mostly women and children. The reported death toll is a conservative estimate, counting only people registered at health facilities, while many remain missing, buried unregistered, or trapped under rubble.
Israel broke the two-month ceasefire with Hamas last week, with the resumption of airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza killing more than 700 people.
Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist specialising in the Middle East and North Africa. Previously living in Palestine, then in Cairo, she is currently based in Tunis.
