Suspension of trade agreement and related measures letter

As a signatory to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), the UK has an obligation to prevent genocide, and an obligation, ergo omnes, to cooperate to bring an end through lawful means to the serious breaches of peremptory norms of international law including crimes against humanity and war crimes. [...] The UK’s bilateral trade agreement with Israel4 incorporates the EU Association Agreement which states in the preamble that “the observance of human rights and democracy… form the very basis of the Association” and, in article 2, that “Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”5 The 20. [...] If these clauses are to have any meaning, the UK should consider terminating or suspending them on grounds of a material breach in accordance with Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.7 Article 82 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement incorporated into the UK’s bilateral trade agreement provides that “Each of the Parties may denounce the Agreement by notifying the other Party.”. [...] This capacity itself depends, among other things, on the geographical distance of the State concerned from the scene of the events, and on the strength of the political links, as well as links of all other kinds, between the authorities of that State and the main actors in the events.’”12 The ICJ also held that, “if the State has available to it means likely to have a deterrent effect on those sus. [...] 18However, it remains the case that “The Government currently has no plans to ban the import of products from Israeli settlements or address UK business investment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”19 By allowing the importation of settlement goods, the UK is helping drive the settlement economy and contributing to the maintenance, development and expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements,.