This effort emerges at a time when the international legal order is under profound strain. While human rights law and international humanitarian law clearly prohibit genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, powerful states continue to block their implementation, particularly when it comes to the case of Palestine. In this context, the leadership shown by countries such as Colombia and South Africa affirms the capacity of Global South states to real political and economic pressure in the face of massive human rights violations, especially when others choose complicity or silence.
The measures announced by this coalition of countries, including a ban on arms transfers to Israel, the review of public contracts with companies linked to the occupation, and support for universal jurisdiction mechanisms, are a concrete response to the prolonged inaction of the most powerful actors in the international system. Today, Israeli forces are starving to death millions of Palestinians by withholding aid ready to be distributed into Gaza. This is yet another tactic of genocide being implemented by the occupying power. In a cruel opportunity for profit-making, US-Israeli run private aid organizations are now running scarce and dangerous food distribution hubs. According to a statement by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly 900 people have been killed in Gaza trying to get food as of 13 July- many of whom were killed in the vicinity of these hubs.
ESCR-Net’s analysis of corporate capture—the influence of transnational corporations over global governance—helps explain why international laws meant to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes are so often obstructed. In a joint statement endorsed by over 130 organizations, we affirmed that “[an] arms embargo and sanctions on Israel are urgently needed,” alongside accountability for corporate actors profiting from these violations. This call is echoed in the recent report by Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, who outlines how corporate and state complicity are deeply intertwined in sustaining Israel’s occupation and its ongoing genocidal campaign—an entanglement she describes as the economy of genocide.
In line with these efforts, ESCR-Net members have called for decisive action to stop the genocide. Today, we join the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine (GEEP Campaign) as a legitimate measure to disrupt the supply chain that fuels its war machinery. We also reiterate that corporate actors, particularly in the energy, transportation, and technology sectors, must be investigated and held accountable. Companies must not continue to profit from genocide and apartheid.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, between October 2023 and July 2025, more than 58,313 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces. The total number of Palestinian deaths, including those in the West Bank and other territories, exceeds 60,200. These figures reflect the devastating human cost of a military genocidal campaign defined by disproportionate force, mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid.
