Ireland’s Crucial Role in Defending Human Rights in Gaza
On September 9th, 2025, a rally took place in Rome, expressing support for the Sumud Flotilla, a vessel aimed at delivering aid to Gaza. As Ireland’s political sphere resumes activity following its summer intermission, the country’s governance is presented with an ethical choice of great weight and significance. This comes against the backdrop of the ravage of Gaza City, the enforced starvation of its inhabitants and widespread atrocities against civilians, humanitarians, and the press corps – actions now viewed as tantamount to genocide by academic professionals, United Nations representatives, as well as leading human rights organisations, including those based in Israel.
Alarmingly, it has taken an extended period of time for such weighty recognition to occur, meanwhile, the horrifying ordeal continues on a daily basis. The unresponsiveness of the international community to penalise Israeli actions in Palestine could potentially inflict irreversible damage to the globally accepted structure of human rights, which already faces threats from rising forms of authoritarianism. Overlooking the severe crimes related to acts of genocide and affiliated war crimes cannot be tolerated.
In the past, the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have set out arrest warrants for high-ranking Israeli officials, including the Prime Minister and the ex-Defence Minister, along with the military head of Hamas. It is incumbent upon Ireland to persist in its efforts of defending and advocating for the International Criminal Court, a body currently is strained under US restrictions, but whose role is crucial within a larger global context where the bounds of the Geneva Conventions have been unabashedly overstepped.
Responsively, Ireland should heed escalating pleas globally for it to partake in initiatives targeted at international accountability, such as the Hague Group. Additionally, the country should augment its support for pre-existing institutions like the ICC to underline legal consequences for those who commit crimes. Our counterparts serving under the aegis of the Palestine Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) have once more addressed us, at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), with a request for intervention that transcends standard international legal methods.
Our Palestinian colleagues urge us to evoke a direct appeal to the Irish government and the citizens of Ireland to further magnify our efforts towards halting the atrocities taking place. As Dr. Ammar Dwaik, the Director-General of the PCHR, eloquently states, “Recognition of genocide necessitates a shift from condemnation to prevention. A preventive approach is not passive, instead necessitating immediate political, legal and diplomatic measures aimed at dismantling structures perpetuating and enabling large-scale atrocities.”
Regardless of the situation, Ireland, as a participant in the Genocide Convention, shoulders an obligation not just to penalize acts of genocide post occurrence but also to forestall it from happening. Preventive strategies are not merely emblematic. They are concrete, quantifiable and call for immediate attention. Words of empathy must give way to concrete results.
The upcoming plans of the government as it reconvenes in Leinster House should reflect this responsibility. The queuing bill, ‘The Occupied Territories Bill’, must be approved by the Oireachtas without further ado, followed by a call to cease the Central Bank’s Israeli bonds activities for good.
Despite the responsibility of bond sales this year transitioning to Luxembourg, under EU guidelines, Ireland remains the principal member state for Israel’s general bond scheme, implying that the Central Bank may be required to approve upcoming requests. It is of paramount importance to suspend trade in dual-use items (items that can serve civilian and military uses), which could facilitate the instruments of war. Further, all necessary measures must be taken to negate the usage of Irish airspace for transportation of arms or other military equipment.
Most importantly, the Irish authorities are required to ensure, using all available measures, that the technological infrastructure in Ireland, including data centres, do not support any Israeli military operations. These are far from radical suggestions; they represent the bare minimum response needed to align Ireland’s operating principles with its proclaimed values.
Ireland has historically prided itself on its leadership in human rights protection, having advocated for strong principles within the European Union, despite the collective failure of the entity. The current stalemate within the EU Commission regarding Gaza is progressively corroding the moral and human rights foundations of the EU. This inertia has not gone unnoticed.
The EU has been censured for its ‘reluctance in taking robust action against Israel’, especially with regards to its behaviour in Gaza and the West Bank, by 27 ex-EU ambassadors to the Middle East and North Africa. Such criticism comes into sharp relief when one considers the prompt action taken against Russia’s illegal incursion into Ukraine in February 2022.
As per Dr. Dwaik, even amidst ‘political constraints within the EU, especially the joint unwillingness hitherto to impose sanctions or suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement’, he believes ‘Ireland, within these limitations, can lead with integrity and have an impact.’ Ireland has a history of successful cooperation with other key EU members such as Spain, Belgium and Slovenia, shaping collective positions anchored in international law.
Ireland’s track record of peace support operations, conflict resolution efforts and the promotion of human rights, through international entities such as the UN and EU, has always sparked inspiration in other robust international actors to follow suit by ‘doing the right thing’. A collapse of international law and order inevitably leads to chaos and catastrophe. With starvation being employed as a mode of genocide in Gaza, the time escapes us swiftly.
What is currently necessary is for Ireland to exhibit brave, decisive leadership and make use of its position within the global order to ensure the international human rights structure can carry out its core tasks effectively. From the immediate provisioning of humanitarian aid to the eventual prosecution of war criminals, such assistance is crucial every step along the way.
Historically, it will not be the charisma of the speeches or the beauty of the written condemning statements that will be remembered, but the bravado displayed and the actions undertaken. Now is the time for Ireland to heed the call, to act, to lead.