ICJ

Brazil now joins Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Turkiye and others who have signed on to the case.

Brazil has formally joined the case launched by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that alleges Israel is committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

The Hague court confirmed in a statement on Friday that Brazil invoked Article 63 of the ICJ statute, filing a declaration of intervention in the case.

The article gives any United Nations member state the right to intervene in a case when the interpretation of a treaty to which it is a party is in question. Brazil used the article to formally recognize that Israel is violating the Genocide Convention of 1948.

South Africa and Israel are now invited to “furnish written observations on the declaration of intervention”, the World Court said.

The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in July it intended to join the case, citing “impunity” that undermined international law as it denounced Israeli aggression in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Brazil now joins Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Turkiye and others who have intervened in favor of South Africa to join the case against Israel over the genocidal war, which has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023.

COMMUNIQUÉ : le Brésil, se référant à l’article 63 du Statut de la #CIJ, a déposé une déclaration d’intervention en l’affaire #AfriqueduSud c. #Israël.

Lien vers le communiqué : https://t.co/7UW0uUrP8o pic.twitter.com/wGoQwUNRqC

— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) September 19, 2025

The ICJ’s final verdict could still take several years to come, but the court issued an interim order in January 2024 that obliged Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and allow for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid.

The court also ruled that Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful, and that its policies amount to annexation .

Ignoring those rulings, as well as mounting international condemnation of its conduct, Israel has since then destroyed far more of Gaza and West Bank, and is quickly advancing with plans to sixteen much of the Palestinian territory.

The United States and the European allies of Israel continue to arm and fund Israel, even as credible international bodies are increasingly recognizing that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza .

Washington has also rejected the merits of the ICJ case, and US legislators have directed threats and criticism against South Africa. The US has also issued unprecedented sanctions of members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who have issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

May 20 (UPI) — Lithuania on Monday filed a case against Belarus in the International Court of Justice, accusing its southern neighbor of facilitating a large-scale smuggling scheme.

The filing initiates legal proceedings against Belarus in the World Court, based in The Hague.

“We are taking this case to the International Court of Justice to send a clear message: no state can use vulnerable people as political pawns without facing consequences under international law,” Lithuanian Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus said in a statement.

Lithuania specifically accused Belarus of violating the United Nations Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which was adopted in 2000, to supplement the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

According to the application to the ICJ, the Baltic county accuses Belarus of “facilitating, supporting and enabling” the smuggling of migrants into the country while failing to implement smuggling protection measures at their shared border.

Vilnius also charges Minsk with failing to exchange information about smuggling with Lithuania’s border control agencies and neglecting to protect the rights of migrants.

“The smuggling of migrants through Belarus into Lithuania has caused serious harm to Lithuania’s sovereignty, security and public order, as well as to the rights and interests of the smuggled migrants themselves, who have been exposed to grave abuses in trying to reach Lithuanian territory,” Vilnius said.

“The large-scale smuggling of migrants has also overwhelmed Lithuania’s reception facilities and asylum systems, which has heavily affected Lithuania’s ability to respond to the migration crisis at the border.”

It said it has made “extensive efforts” to address the issue with Belarus, but that Belarus has “refused to engage in constructive and effective dialogue.”

Belarus not only continued to deny its responsibility under the U.N. protocol, it said, “but also the facts on the ground underlying those breaches,” it said.

Lithuania’s foreign ministry said the “unprecedented” flow of migrants from Belarus dates back to at least 2021, and that it has evidence confirming the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko is directly involved in the scheme.

According to the ministry, Belarusian state-owned companies have increased the number of flights from the Middle East and other regions and organized the issuance of visas and accommodations.

It said that when the migrants arrive in Belarus, many are taken to the Lithuanian border by security forces and are forced to cross into the country under what the ministry described as “dangerous and life-threatening conditions.”

Lithuania states that the smuggling scheme is an attempt to use migrants to retaliate against Vilnius and the European Union over their rejection of Lukashenko’s attacks on democracy and human rights abuses with sanctions.

Belarus has yet to respond to the development.

In December, the European Commission approved member states to adopt measures to country “the weaponization of migration by Russia and Belarus.”

It said Eastern EU countries that border both Belarus and Russia are at risk of migrants being used “as a political tool to destabilize our societies.”

The Baltic nation is seeking damages, including compensation for border reinforcement costs.

Lithuania has initiated legal proceedings against Belarus at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing its neighbour of orchestrating a refugee and migrant crisis by facilitating the smuggling of people across their border.

“The Belarusian regime must be held legally accountable for orchestrating the wave of illegal migration and the resulting human rights violations,” Lithuanian Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus said in a statement on Monday.

“We are taking this case to the International Court of Justice to send a clear message: no state can use vulnerable people as political pawns without facing consequences under international law.”

The case, submitted to the ICJ in The Hague, centres on alleged violations by Belarus of the United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said attempts to resolve the issue through bilateral talks failed and it has evidence showing direct involvement by the Belarusian state in organising refugee and migrant flows, including a surge in flights from the Middle East operated by Belarusian state-owned airlines.

After landing in Belarus, many of the passengers were escorted to the Lithuanian border by Belarusian security forces and forced to cross illegally, Lithuanian officials said.

Lithuania also accused Belarus of refusing to cooperate with its border services in preventing irregular crossings and said it is seeking compensation through the ICJ for alleged damages caused, including costs related to border reinforcement.

Tensions between the two countries have simmered since 2021 when thousands of people – mostly from the Middle East and Africa – began arriving at the borders of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia from Belarus.

Belarus had previously deported Middle Eastern refugees and migrants with more than 400 Iraqis repatriated to Baghdad on a charter flight from Minsk in November 2021.

That same year, a Human Rights Watch report accused Belarus of manufacturing the crisis, finding that “accounts of violence, inhuman and degrading treatment and coercion by Belarusian border guards were commonplace”.

European Union officials have also accused Minsk of “weaponising” migration in an effort to destabilise the bloc. The claims are strongly denied by Belarus.

In December, the EU approved emergency measures allowing member states bordering Belarus and Russia to temporarily suspend asylum rights in cases in which migration is being manipulated for political ends.