Why the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory's findings matter, and why denying them is dangerous.
On the 16th September the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, released its finding that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza strip. For those who, like me, have a background in the field of conflict and genocide studies, this ruling feels incredibly important and the denial and misinformation that has accompanied it are incredibly frustrating, not to mention downright dangerous. This is because, despite common myths that say otherwise, it is not actually easy for something to meet the threshold to be considered genocide. Legally speaking, getting the international community and the UN to rule something as a genocide is incredibly difficult, as there are strict criteria regarding what constitutes genocide. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide states:
‘In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.’
In the case of Israel’s actions towards Palestinians in the West Bank, it was found that Israeli security forces had committed the first four of the five genocidal acts as laid out above (i). To understand the scale and importance of this ruling, we need to remember that the UN themselves, in their own briefing guidance on when to use the term genocide, outline how important it is that ‘United Nations officials adhere to the correct usage of the term, for several reasons; (i) its frequent misuse in referring to large scale, grave crimes committed against particular populations; (ii) the emotive nature of the term and political sensitivity surrounding its use; and (iii) the potential legal implications associated with a determination of genocide.’iii In short, deeming something a genocide is not something the UN take lightly.
A common criticism of the UN by genocide scholars is that it is often too slow and reluctant to state genocide happening, precisely because of the sensitivity around the term. Moreover, if the UN does recognise an act as genocide, then in theory every country that has ratified the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, along with the UN Security Council, has a responsibility to act in preventing the genocide from occurring, which further often makes them reluctant to recognise genocide. This makes the findings of the Commission even more groundbreaking, as the UN does not have a very good track record of recognising genocide while it is occurring in real time. Take the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the Srebrenica genocide in 1995. For various reasons, while both genocides were occurring, there was a reluctance from the UN to label these as acts of genocide, despite the evidence on the ground indicating this was the case, including the first-hand testimony of UN Peacekeeping forces.
Even with the benefit of hindsight, there is still a reluctance and a strong debate among the international community regarding what acts have met the threshold of genocide. As outlined in the UN briefing guidance on when to refer to something as genocide ‘To date, only a few events have been determined by competent judicial bodies to constitute genocide’ (iv). Generally speaking, since the term genocide was first used in 1944, there have been five instances in which genocide has been recognised by either international tribunals or arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court: The Holocaust; Cambodia; Rwanda; Srebrenica; and Darfur (you can find out more about each through the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust), and even these are hotly debated and contested.
What all this shows is the incredible importance of the ruling by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Genocide is not a term that when properly used is ever given lightly, particularly when it is used by the UN. As such, when the UN does recognise genocide, it is important we take notice. To deny the findings of the Commission is to take part in genocide denial (which incidentally is one of the ten stages of genocide). To ignore, question, or make light of how historic this ruling is, subsequently makes us complicit in one of the worst acts of evil imaginable.
So, stand up, speak up, and make sure you call what is happening to Palestinians in the West Bank what it is. It is genocide.
i United Nations, Definitions of Genocide and Related Crimes https://www.un.org/en/genocide-prevention/definition
ii United Nations, Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds
iii United Nations, When to Refer to a Situation As Genocide: A Brief Guidance Note https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/publications-and-resources/When_refer_situation_genocide_brief_guidance_note.pdf p2
iv United Nations, When to Refer to a Situation As Genocide: A Brief Guidance Note https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/publications-and-resources/When_refer_situation_genocide_brief_guidance_note.pdf p5
Written by Lizzy Norman-Sargent.
Lizzy has a PhD in the interconnects between state fragility and child piracy in Somalia from the Centre for Trust, Peace and Relations at Coventry University and an MA in Political Theory, specialising in War, Ethnic Conflict and Genocide Studies from the University of Sheffield .She is a former West Midlands Board Member for the Genocide Awareness Charity Remembering Srebrenica and has previously worked as the SCM Faith in Action Social Justice Project Worker and as a researcher on a project for the Ministry of Defence exploring the link between critical minerals and potential future areas of geopolitical conflicts. She currently works as the EDI Project Manager for the Academy of Social Science. The views expressed here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation she currently works for.