“EU\u2019s Political and Legal Obligations”<\/strong><\/p>\nWednesday, 6 May 2026<\/p>\n
Your\u00a0excellencies, distinguished guests, colleagues,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019ve\u00a0been asked to provide an introduction about the EU\u2019s political and legal obligations to act on the atrocities that the colleague from Oxfam just described.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThat could\u00a0make\u00a0for a PhD thesis, and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0afraid we\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0have the time for that. But in the\u00a0roughly 12\u00a0minutes ahead I will\u00a0attempt\u00a0to offer just a brief overview of what could be a description of those obligations, what they entail, and how and why\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not being fulfilled. Colleagues in the afternoon will offer a more in-depth analysis of some of these elements.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFirstly: all EU member states are parties to the UN Genocide Convention.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGovernments, scholars, NGOs may differ, in good or in bad faith, about whether what Israel has been doing in Gaza reaches the legal threshold of the crime of genocide. But when it comes to the obligations stemming from the UN Genocide Convention, there can be no doubt as to the existence of the duty to prevent the crime of genocide.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThat duty entails an obligation to \u201c<\/span>employ all means reasonably available to [states parties], so as to prevent genocide so far as possible<\/span><\/i>\u201d.\u00a0The duty arises as soon as a state learns, or should normally have learned, of a\u00a0<\/span>serious risk<\/span><\/i>\u00a0that genocide may be committed. A definitive determination that genocide is already underway is not\u00a0required.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo, the questions are: is there a serious risk that Israel may have been committing genocide? Is the EU aware of it? And, if so, did it fulfil its obligations?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n