UN Report – Anatomy of a Genocide – Mauritian Government must Act
27.03.2024
LALIT calls on the Mauritian Government to implement the Recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.
This Report, in its moral clarity, exposes the Israeli genocide for all to see. The name of the report is “The Anatomy of a Genocide”. Please read it – see documents section of lalitmauritius.org
Francesca Albanese, in her Report, outlines the three ways Israel is committing genocide, out of five possible ways outlined in the Treaty for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: killing Palestinians, maiming them, and imposing conditions calculated to destroy the life of Palestinians.
She also de-constructs the Israeli trick of using, abusing and deforming the International Humanitarian Laws in order to further its genocide. Israel has used laws that aim to protect civilians from war in order, for example, to forcibly displace them, and this by the million. This cynical, even absurd, use of the laws designed to decrease the harm of war in order to perpetrate genocide is only possible because Israel has acted so despicably, lying and pretending, posturing and spreading false propaganda, for 75 years with the total impunity that comes from having the USA’s total geo-political support whatever Israel did. But now, the Israeli State has reached the beginning of the end of its impunity. Even the USA, as a State, is nearing the beginning of the end of its impunity.
Ms Albanese’s fine Report, taken together with the International Court of Justice’s Provisional Judgment that states that it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in these three ways, as well as in a fourth way, by preventing births taking place and that Israel must stop doing this and allow food and supplies in, and also taken together with Monday’s UN Security Council Resolution for a ceasefire, means that the recommendations of her Report follow logically. We call on the Mauritian Government to implement all the recommendations to the extent that they are applicable.
Contrast with Pramila Patten Report
Ms Albanese’s Report, The Anatomy of a Genocide, makes a fine contrast with the Pramila Patten “Mission Report” submitted to the UN Secretary General three weeks ago and which ended up amplifying Israeli propaganda i.e. the propaganda of the very State that is “plausibly” committing genocide and thus is in desperate need of lying propaganda to veil or to attempt to justify its own genocidal acts. The Patten Report lacks the moral clarity of the Francesca Albanese Report. (See our article criticizing the Patten Report on lalitmauritius.org) We note, and this is curious, that no-one else in Mauritius, as far as we know, has commented on her Report, even though she is a Mauritian making big headlines in the international media, which usually means the Mauritian media would take it up. This silence is perhaps not so strange, though: in Mauritius there is lots of silence. For example, we have, so far, only “crypto-Zionists”, who are therefore quiet Zionists, no visible Zionists (L’Express newspaper ran just one overtly Zionist dossier since 7 October). But, at the same time, despite all Government and all Parliamentary Opposition Parties being pro-Palestinian, despite SOMALP uniting huge union and other organizations and protesting, despite the broad masses being massively pro-Palestinian, we are, nevertheless, up against powerful crypto-Zionists who maintain the silence: the bosses, the L’Express media group, and the top brass of a Catholic Church, still much controlled by the Mauritian oligarchs from colonial times. These three forces, taken together, have enough power to stifle pro-Palestinian voices to some extent, and to help Israel by means of what chess players call “country moves”. So, for example, during the genocide, and even as Mauritius remains occupied militarily and illegally by the UK-USA, what do we see? The Caudan Waterfront big bosses host the US Navy Band recently, as did two Catholic Church organizations, Caritas and St Mary’s College in Petite Riviere. We wrote to them both calling them out for being used by the main funder, arms-provider and geo-political backer of Israel i.e. the USA during the Israeli genocide, and, as it happens, while Mauritius is under military occupation by the UK-USA in Chagos, including Diego Garcia.
The Francesca Albanese Report, “The Anatomy of a Genocide”, is so important that we publish below its Conclusions and Recommendations, from Paragraph 93 to the end. And we call on the Government to act on all the Recommendations.
The entire report – which is short and easy to read – will be loaded on to our website lalitmauritius.org in the “documents section” as soon as this article is up.
“Conclusions
“93. The overwhelming nature and scale of Israel's assault on Gaza and the destructive conditions of life it has inflicted reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group. This report finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the following acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has been met: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to groups’ members; and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. Genocidal acts were approved and given effect following statements of genocidal intent issued by senior military and government officials.
“94. Israel has sought to conceal its eliminationist conduct of hostilities sanctioning the commission of international crimes as IHL-abiding. Distorting IHL customary rules, including distinction, proportionality and precautions, Israel has de facto treated an entire protected group and its life-sustaining infrastructure as ‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist-supporting’, thus transforming everything and everyone into either a target or collateral damage, hence killable or destroyable. In this way, no Palestinian in Gaza is safe by definition. This has had devastating, intentional effects, costing the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroying the fabric of life in Gaza and causing irreparable harm to its entire population.
“95. Israel’s genocide on the Palestinians in Gaza is an escalatory stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure. For over seven decades this process has suffocated the Palestinian people as a group – demographically, culturally, economically and politically –, seeking to displace it and expropriate and control its land and resources. The ongoing Nakba must be stopped and remedied once and for all. This is an imperative owed to the victims of this highly preventable tragedy, and to future generations in that land.
“Recommendations
“96. The Special Rapporteur urges member states to enforce the prohibition of genocide in accordance with their non-derogable obligations. Israel and those states that have been complicit in what can be reasonably concluded to constitute genocide must be held accountable and deliver reparations commensurate with the destruction, death and harm inflicted on the Palestinian people.
“97. The Special Rapporteur recommends that member states:
“(a) Immediately implement an arms embargo on Israel, as it appears to have failed to comply with the binding measures ordered by the ICJ on 26 January 2024, as well as other economic and political measures necessary to ensure an immediate and lasting ceasefire and to restore respect for international law, including sanctions;
“(b) Support South Africa having resort to the UNSC under article 94(2) of the UN Charter following Israel’s non-compliance with the above-mentioned ICJ measures; A/HRC/55/73
“(c) Act to ensure a thorough, independent and transparent investigation of all violations of international law committed by all actors, including those amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide, including:
“(i) cooperating with international independent fact-finding/ investigative and accountability mechanisms;
“(ii) referring the situation in Palestine to the ICC immediately, in support of its ongoing investigation;
“(iii) discharging their obligations under the principles of universal jurisdiction, ensuring genuine investigations and prosecutions of individuals who are suspected of having committed, or aided or abetted, in the commission of international crimes, including genocide, starting with their own nationals;
“(d) Ensure that Israel, as well as States who have been complicit in the Gaza genocide, acknowledge the colossal harm done, commit to non-repetition, with measures for prevention, full reparations, including the full cost of the reconstruction of Gaza, for which the establishment of a register of damage with an accompanying verification and mass claims process is recommended;
“(e) Within the General Assembly, develop a plan to end the unlawful and unsustainable status quo constituting the root cause of the latest escalation, which ultimately culminated in the Gaza genocide, including through the reconstitution of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid to comprehensively address the situation in Palestine, and stand ready to implement diplomatic, economic and political measures provided under the United Nations Charter in case of non-compliance by Israel;
“(f) In the short term and as a temporary measure, in consultation with the State of Palestine, deploy an international protective presence to constrain the violence routinely used against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory;
“(g) Ensure that UNRWA is properly funded to enable it to meet the increased needs of Palestinians in Gaza.
“98. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to enhance its efforts to end the current atrocities in Gaza, including by promoting and accurately applying International Law, notably the Genocide Convention, in the context of the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole.”
Our call for our readers to participate in the SOMALP Demonstration
See our article on the demonstration planned for 13 April in Rose-Hill at 1:00 pm.
