02/08/2026
The International Court of Justice will hold public hearings on the preliminary objections raised by Germany in the case concerning Alleged Breaches of Certain International Obligations in respect of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Nicaragua v. Germany)
from Monday 7 to Thursday 10 September 2026.
It is recalled that, on 1 March 2024, Nicaragua filed an Application instituting proceedings against Germany for alleged violations by Germany of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948 (the “Genocide Convention”) and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, as well as “intransgressible principles of international humanitarian law and other peremptory norms of general international law” in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular the Gaza Strip.
In its Application, Nicaragua states that “[e]ach and every Contracting Party to the Genocide Convention has a duty under the Convention to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide” and that, since October 2023, there has been “a recognised risk of genocide against the Palestinian people, directed first of all against the population of the Gaza Strip”.
Nicaragua further argues that, by providing political, financial and military support to Israel and by defunding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide”.
Nicaragua seeks to found the Court’s jurisdiction on the declarations by which both States have accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to Article 36, paragraph 2, of its Statute and on Article IX of the Genocide Convention.
