Copenhagen, March 13 (RHC)-- A group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say they will sue Denmark to end the country’s continued arms exports to Israel. In a joint statement on Tuesday, a group of NGOs, including Oxfam Denmark, ActionAid Denmark and Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, cited serious concerns that weapons exported from Denmark to Israel were being used to commit serious crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The NGOs announced a lawsuit against Denmark’s National Police and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which approve Danish sales of weapons and military equipment to Israel, to stop the current flow of arms from the Nordic country to the occupying regime.
The joint statement said the lawsuit was based on the grounds that there is “a clear risk that weapons and military equipment that Denmark, directly and indirectly, exports to Israel will be used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza.”
Israel began the campaign of death and destruction in Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Since then, the regime has killed at least 31,110 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured some 72,760 others. The regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
“For five months we have been talking about a potential genocide in Gaza, but we have not seen politicians take action,” Tim Whyte, secretary-general of ActionAid Denmark, said in a statement.
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take all possible measures to shield the Palestinians and prevent the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip and do more to help civilians.
Denmark is a signatory of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty and the EU Common Rules for Arms Exports, which obliges the Nordic country to ensure that exports of weapons and military equipment from Danish companies do not risk violating international law. The NGOs have warned that they would file the lawsuit to a yet unspecified court within the next three weeks.
Last month, UN experts warned that any sale and supply of weapons to Israel that risk being used in Gaza would violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.
