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WILPF Welcomes the Commitments to Halt Genocide Made at the Emergency Conference on Palestine in Bogotá

A coalition of cross-regional states met in Bogotá, Colombia mid-July to discuss measures to disrupt Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. WILPF supports this conference and the commitments made by 12 of the states to uphold international law.

By Ray Acheson
18 July 2025

From 15–16 July 2025, thirty states met in Bogotá, Colombia at an Emergency Conference on Palestine, which was convened jointly by Colombia and South Africa as an initiative of the Hague Group. Participants of the conference, from states in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America, “unanimously agreed that the era of impunity must end—and that international law must be enforced without fear or favour through immediate domestic policies and legislation.” They also demanded an immediate ceasefire. 

Twelve of the participating states—Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa—committed to implementing six measures through their domestic legal and administrative systems to end their complicity with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. These measures include:

  • Prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel; 
  • Prevent the transit, docking and servicing of vessels at any port…. in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment and dual-use items to Israel; 
  • Prevent the carriage of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment and dual-use items to Israel on vessels bearing any of the 12  countries’ flags… and ensure full accountability, including de-flagging, for non-compliance with this prohibition; 
  • Commence an urgent review of all public contracts, to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory and entrenching its unlawful presence; 
  • Comply with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law, through robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes; and 
  • Support universal jurisdiction mandates, as and where applicable in national legal frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The 12 states are encouraging other countries to join them in similar commitments, urging them to do so by 20 September 2025, the start of the next UN General Assembly. They also called on all states to take effective action to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law, including by imposing sanctions on Israel and ending their material support for its actions. 

WILPF welcomes the convening of this conference and the commitments made by 12 participating states. These commitments are in line with WILPF’s ongoing calls for the imposition of two-way arms embargoes, sanctions on Israel and more.  

The US government has accused the Hague Group of trying to “weaponise international law as a tool to advance radical anti-Western agendas.” This comment is instructive, as it positions compliance with international law to prevent genocide as anti-Western. This makes sense when one understands Israel’s genocide of Palestinians as the latest in a long history of Western colonial genocide and present-day imperialist projects. 

WILPF stands in solidarity with those taking concrete measures to end genocide and to stop profiteering from genocide, occupation and apartheid. We urge more states to join the Hague Group in implementing the commitments from the Bogotá conference. This is a bold demonstration of multilaterialism in action, through which states are supporting each other in upholding their commitments under international law. It is essential that while the most heavily militarised governments in the world engage in mass violence, the rest of us work instead for justice and peace.