GENEVA - The European Union (EU) must immediately suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which has granted Israel preferential access to the European market since 2000, despite well-documented human rights violations that have escalated into atrocity crimes, including genocide, UN experts* said today.
"Europe faces a clear moral test, when its Foreign Ministers meet in Luxembourg tomorrow, 21 April, to consider the suspension, in full or in part of this Agreement," the experts said. "This meeting is taking place amid growing public demand within Europe for accountability."
"The European Citizens' Initiative calling for full suspension of the Agreement in light of Israel's human rights violations, has gathered over one million signatures to date," they said.
"The EU cannot credibly claim to uphold human rights while sustaining preferential trade with a State whose conduct has been found by multiple international bodies as amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes," they said. As Israel's largest trading partner, the EU grants Israeli goods preferential access to European markets under the Agreement, including tariff-free entry for key agricultural products," the experts said.
Recalling that under Article 2 of the Agreement respect for human rights and democratic principles are an "essential element," the experts said that serious and persistent breaches of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by Israel should have long ago triggered the legal grounds for suspension of the Agreement.
They recalled provisional measures rulings by the International Court of Justice, which determined that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and issued binding orders requiring Israel to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid and to prevent irreparable harm to Palestinians. These orders, the experts noted, have been repeatedly disregarded.
They further recalled the Court's July 2024 advisory opinion, which found that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory was unlawful and violates the fundamental right to self-determination, humanitarian law, and human rights law. The Court affirmed that all States, including EU Member States, have an obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law under the Fourth Geneva Convention and to refrain from trade or economic relations that may assist in maintaining the illegal situation.
The experts pointed to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israeli violations of international law have also been repeatedly identified by the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, a Commission of Inquiry, Special Procedures, the Human Rights Council and civil society.
"For two and a half years now, the EU has witnessed escalating atrocities against Palestinians without taking any effective measure to uphold international law," the experts said.
They recalled multiple UN analyses and their own findings documenting genocide, widespread torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and forced displacement, alongside the systematic destruction of housing in Gaza, described as "domicide," a complete destruction of its education system, "scholasticide", starvation, including obstruction of access to humanitarian aid including adequate safe drinking water, serious destruction of ecosystems and environmental impacts, harm to peasants, pastoralists and their land, targeted destruction of Gaza's healthcare system, and ongoing ethnic cleansing and annexation in the West Bank.
"These patterns reflect the systematic violation of virtually all human rights and freedoms as a structural feature of Israel's regime," the experts said. "Impunity is near total, while the victims of atrocities have been constantly dehumanised."
They also condemned Israel's recent death penalty law, which establishes a discriminatory regime of capital punishment that violates international law and constitutes a grave escalation in the oppression of Palestinians. Israel has systematically abused many other counter-terrorism laws against Palestinians.
"As parties to the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions, all EU Member States are required to employ all reasonable means to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for humanitarian law. Continuing trade relations that contribute to or sustain an unlawful situation is incompatible with this obligation," they said, noting the previous failure by the EU to adopt meaningful measures.
"In light of the gravity and scale of the human rights violations documented, full suspension is not a matter of political discretion but a legal imperative incumbent on the European Union, and represents the minimum measure required to align its actions with its obligations under international law," the experts said.
