Spontaneous applause is rare at the annual conference of the International Bar Association, which attracted 6,000 lawyers to Copenhagen. Sessions on topics like the ‘tax impact of nearshoring’ and ‘reimagining currency’ are useful to practitioners, but do not stir the blood.
One speaker who did get delegates off their seats was Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, president of the International Peace Institute and ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He managed this feat with the following statement at Sunday’s opening ceremony: ‘Western governments have been accused by other states of being quick to condemn dictators and populists who are judged to be adversaries or enemies, and then excuse or be silent over those considered to be friends. Perhaps the most glaring example of this has been Israel’s attacks on the Palestinians of Gaza, which the UN International Commission of Inquiry believed could not be explained by anything other than genocidal intent. Triggered by Hamas’s abominable attacks of 7 October, the events in Gaza had early on drawn a muted European response, very much in contrast with the widespread condemnation in the wake of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The criticism aimed at Europe was justified, of course, at the beginning… but this is beginning to change with a large number of European countries now speaking out about the horrors of Gaza, and possibly also about the unilateral and unlawful US-Israeli attacks on Iran, notwithstanding Iran’s own brutal treatment of its people.’
Many in the audience applauded this, but has the message got through to the Anglo-American-led global bar? Ukraine’s appalling predicament and the west’s obligation to come to its aid were rightly the subject of numerous panel discussions and setpiece events in Copenhagen. By contrast, there was little (and nothing at all in the formal programme) about Israel and Gaza.
At heavyweight geopolitical discussions with former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and erstwhile Conservative leader Lord Hague, no mention was made of Gaza at all. Given that one consequence of the conflict could be the emasculation of international criminal justice (the ICC did come up at least), this looked like a glaring omission.
Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein might be justified in believing the IBA made his point for him. Paradoxically, given its dreadful plight, perhaps Ukraine is just more comfortable territory for the IBA.
No comments yet