More than 20 countries would gather in Colombia’s capital city of Bogotá, on July 15–16 for an emergency summit aimed at declaring concrete measures against what they described as Israel’s violations of international law.
The summit is co-hosted by Colombia and South Africa under the banner of The Hague Group, a coalition founded to hold Israel accountable under international law, reports Middle East Eye.
The Hague Group, established on January 31 in The Hague, currently consists of eight founding member states: Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal, and South Africa. Since then, the group has expanded its engagement and coordination efforts.
Countries expected to participate in the summit include: Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Turkiye, and Uruguay.
The summit in Bogotá seeks to move from statements to unified action.
“Together, we will work to introduce concrete legal, diplomatic and economic measures that can urgently halt Israel’s destruction of the Palestinians,” said Roland Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.
The summit will also feature key UN officials, including: Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN special Rapporteur on the right to health, Laura Nyirinkindi, chair of the UN working group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, Andres Macias Tolosa, UN working group on Mercenaries Mandate Holder.
Over the past 20 months, several members of The Hague Group have already taken significant actions. South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza. Bolivia, Colombia, and Namibia later joined that case.
Malaysia and Namibia have blocked arms shipments bound for Israel from entering their ports. Colombia has severed diplomatic ties with Israel.
These actions were previously taken independently, but the Hague Group aims to build coordinated legal and diplomatic strategies for greater effectiveness.
According to Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, coordinator of The Hague Group, the bloc emerged partly in response to the failure of states to comply with binding international legal obligations.
This refers in part to the backlash by several Western governments against the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, issued in November 2024.
The group also cites Israel’s repeated refusal to comply with multiple orders from the ICJ aimed at upholding the Genocide Convention.
