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The Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal, a “people’s tribunal” established as an independent initiative to investigate Israel's ongoing war crimes in Gaza, condemned the Israeli "regime" and its actions on Thursday.

Over the last three days, sessions were held at the International University of Sarajevo on the political economy of genocide and Gaza’s destruction, the crime of starvation, the role of the international system in the age of genocide, people’s tribunals, and the criminalization of student protests.

Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has levelled almost the entire territory and led to shortages of food and other basic necessities, increasing the risk of famine.

'Collective moral outrage'

The Sarajevo Declaration expressed its “collective moral outrage at the continuing genocide in Palestine” while committing “working with partners across global civil society to end the genocide and to ensure accountability for perpetrators and enablers” for a “free Palestine.”

“We condemn the Israeli regime, its perpetration of genocide, and its decades-long policies and practices of settler colonialism, ethno-supremacism, apartheid, racial segregation, persecution, unlawful settlements, the denial of the right to return, collective punishment, mass detention, torture and cruel and inhuman treatment and punishment, extrajudicial executions, systematic sexual violence, demolitions, forced displacement and expulsions, ethnic purges and forced demographic change, forced starvation, the systematic denial of all economic and social rights, and extermination,” the statement said.

The declaration announced its rejection of "the destructive ideology of Zionism, as the official state ideology of the Israeli regime, of the forces that colonized Palestine and established the Israeli state on its ruins, and of pro-Israel organizations and proxies today."

To this end, the statement called "for decolonization across the land, an end to the ethno-supremacist order, and the replacement of Zionism with a dispensation founded on equal human rights for Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others."

The declaration demanded an immediate cessation of Israeli military actions and withdrawal of military forces, along with putting a stop to “genocide, forced displacement and expulsions, settlement activities, the siege of Gaza and restrictions on movement in the West Bank.”

'Complicity' in war crimes

The Gaza Tribunal also denounced "the continued complicity of governments in the perpetration of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Palestine, and the shameful role of many media corporations in covering up the genocide, dehumanizing Palestinians, and in the dissemination of propaganda fueling anti-Palestinian racism, war crimes, and genocide."

Emphasizing the Palestinian right to self-determination, the tribunal said the issue is "jus cogens and erga omnes (a universal rule not subject to exception and binding on all states) and is non-negotiable and axiomatic."

A resumption of unrestricted humanitarian aid to Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Lebanese and Syrian territory was also included in the demands.

The statement called on all governments and international organizations “to end the historic scandal of inaction that has characterized the past nineteen months, to urgently respond with all means at their disposal to end the Israeli assault and siege, to uphold international law, to hold perpetrators to account, and to provide immediate relief and protection to the people of Palestine.”

The declaration also recognized ongoing efforts to the independent special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN refugee agency UNRWA, applauding “principled action to defend the rights of the Palestinian people.”

The Gaza Tribunal was formally launched in London in November 2024 by a coalition of academics, intellectuals, human rights advocates and representatives from civil society organizations in response to what they described as “the total failure of the organized international community to implement international law” in Gaza.

Following the assembly in Sarajevo, the tribunal plans to hold its final hearing session in October this year in Istanbul.

During this event, a Jury of Conscience will present a draft of the tribunal’s findings and decisions, drawing on testimonies from witnesses and statements from Palestinians affected by the crisis.