NewsUN experts on Friday raised the alarm after Israel issued an evacuation warning for more than 100 villages in Southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut. More than 700,000 people, including 200,000 children, have been forced to flee their homes under the threat of Israeli bombardment.
The experts warned that forced displacement may amount to crimes against humanity under international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court identifies forced displacement multiple times as a possible crime. Article 7 (1)(d) designates the “deportation or forcible transfer of population” as a crime against humanity when it is “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” When determining if the prohibition on forced displacement has been violated, the key question is whether the displacement was “forced” or not. The force does not need to be physical, it can include threats of violence, intimidating acts, “calculated to deprive the civilian population from exercising its free will, such as shelling or burning of civilian objects.”
“Ordering civilians to evacuate does not absolve parties of their legal obligations,” the experts said. “Warnings must be effective, civilians must have a genuine possibility to reach safety, and those displaced must be ensured adequate protection and assistance.”
Last Friday, Amnesty International warned that forced displacement will worsen humanitarian suffering in Lebanon; it was then estimated that 300,000 people had been forcibly displaced—a number that has increased to 700,000 one week later. Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorous, a chemical weapon banned under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, overtop of Lebanese civilian homes on March 3rd.
The warning was issued by three UN experts: George Katrougalos; Paula Gaviria, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; and Francesca Albanese the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
