Does DEFSEC Atlantic have human rights obligations following the ICJ ruling on plausible genocide?
Photo: Protest against DEFSEC Atlantic 2023.
The Canadian Defence Security & Aerospace Exhibition Atlantic, or DEFSEC Atlantic, will take place this coming October 1-3 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. DEFSEC Atlantic says: “[It is] now the second largest event of its kind in Canada.”
In 2023, it had 168 exhibiting organizations, 16 countries represented, and 40,000 square feet of exhibition space.
This year it highlights that it has expanded to 120,000 square feet.
The aim of DEFSEC Atlantic includes creating a place where “businesses can meet each other and start down the path of future collaboration” and bringing “all levels of government which highlight the programs available to aid companies in future business development…” It adds: “military members are invited to meet the companies who may potentially have them as the end-users of their products.”
Exhibitors
Exhibitors will include BAE Systems (Canada), Gastops, General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems – Canada, Lockheed Martin Canada, Thales Canada among many others. Its sponsors include Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
The Breach recently reported: “[Ottawa-based] Gastops is the only company in the world that produces engine sensors that go into U.S.-made F-35 combat jets—including the ones dropping 2,000 pound bombs in Gaza.”
And in mid-August The Maple reported: “The United States government announced this week that a Quebec-based company [General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc.] will be the principal contractor in a ‘possible’ $61-million US sale of high explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment to Israel.”
As for exhibitor and sponsor Lockheed Martin, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Action Center for Corporate Accountability has noted: “The world’s largest weapons manufacturer, Lockheed Martin supplies Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has been using extensively to bomb Gaza. Israel also uses the company’s C-130 Hercules transport planes to support the ground invasion of Gaza. Lockheed Martin manufactures AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for Israel’s Apache helicopters. One of the main weapon types used in aerial attacks on Gaza, these missiles have been used extensively in 2023.”
International Court of Justice ruling
Almost eight months ago, on January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a preliminary ruling on South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people, specifically in the Gaza Strip.
In paragraph 54 of its ruling, the International Court of Justice states: “In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances … are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible. This is the case with respect to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts identified in Article III, and the right of South Africa to seek Israel’s compliance with the latter’s obligations under the [the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide].”
As such, the ICJ ruled that it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
Toronto-based university law school professors Heidi Matthews, Faisal A. Bhabha and Mohammad Fadel have argued: “Because the ICJ found a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, continuing to export arms to Israel would be illegal. It would also be flagrantly inconsistent with Canada’s obligation to prevent genocide and could expose Canada and Canadian officials to liability for participation in genocide.”
Canada’s international obligations
Kelsey Gallagher, senior research at the Canadian peace research institute Project Ploughshares, has written: “Calls for Canada to stop arming authoritarian governments accused of war crimes are not merely appeals to a higher moral standard but are grounded in concrete legal obligations.”
Gallagher adds: “States party to the [Arms Trade Treaty] cannot transfer arms if such exports pose an overriding risk of being used in violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law. They are also barred from providing weapons to foreign states or actors that would be used in war crimes or other crimes against humanity (which, notably in the case of Israel, includes apartheid). This threshold has evidently been crossed with several of Canada’s arms trade relationships, even if Ottawa would like to pretend otherwise.”
The obligations of companies
Furthermore, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights places responsibilities on companies, including those that sell arms. It says: “The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations, and does not diminish those obligations. And it exists over and above compliance with national laws and regulations protecting human rights.”
The impact on arms exports on human rights defenders
Front Line Defenders has noted: “People considered to be human rights defenders in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] include journalists, lawyers, medical workers, fieldworkers, international volunteers who act as independent observers and carry out human rights work and defenders working for economic, social and cultural rights.”
Using the Front Line Defenders definition, an estimated 1,383 Palestinian human rights defenders have been killed over the past year (111 journalists, 990 medics, 2 lawyers, 280 aid workers). We also highlight the killing of international accompaniment volunteer Aysenur Eygi earlier this month in the Occupied West Bank.
Front Line Defenders says: “[Human rights defenders have been] specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
HRDs are essential and must be protected
Last week, UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor commented: “There is literally no place left for human rights defenders and civil society actors to continue documenting the litany of human rights violations to which Israel is subjecting the people of the Gaza Strip. …I repeat my call for human rights defenders to be recognised as essential in times of armed conflict, and to be protected. As independent observers, lawyers and researchers, they document and preserve evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and ensure the possibility of accountability and justice.”
We continue to follow this.
Peace Brigades International-Canada has endorsed the campaign for an Arms Embargo Now. To see the video of the recent webinar with Rachel Small (World Beyond War), Kelsey Gallagher (Project Ploughshares) and Noam Perry (American Friends Service Committee Action Center for Corporate Accountability) that PBI-Canada co-hosted with the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC), click here.
0 Comments