INTERVIEW BY PALESTINIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION *
TO DR. CARLOS ARGÜELLO GÓMEZ
Sunday, March 10
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Hello welcome to our special interview, today we have the honor to speak with the Representative of Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice, we will talk about Nicaragua's support for Palestine and Nicaragua's accusations against Germany.
Welcome Dr. Carlos Argüello, it is an honor to have your participation in this interview.
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
Good afternoon, thank you very much for having invited me, it's a great pleasure to be here with you.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Doctor Argüello, Nicaragua has maintained a position of firm support for the Palestinian cause, recognizing Palestine as a Sovereign and Independent State. How does Nicaragua assess the current situation in Palestine, in terms of Israeli violations of International Law and Human Rights?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
Well, Nicaragua is extremely affected, saddened and also full of the spirit to do something, because frankly it is an unbearable situation that the Palestinian people are suffering, they have been suffering this for three generations now and frankly what is happening now in these last months is something that already surpasses everything that happened previously.
Here finally it is practically obvious to the world that Israel has taken off its mask, the mask it has had on, here they are destroying the Palestinian People in front of the whole world and that is an issue that no country, no human being should endure, when this situation began, in Nicaragua we were very attentive in what way we could collaborate, obviously from our modest resources. We have had some experience with the International Court and we believe that in this aspect there could be some contribution from us and in that sense we have been acting, so as a general introduction to your question, I think I can conclude with that.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Nicaragua has accused Germany of politically, financially and militarily supporting Israel in its genocide in the Gaza Strip. What specific measures is Nicaragua requesting from the International Court of Justice regarding Germany's participation in the genocide?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
Excuse me if I make a brief preface or parenthesis to that, we are not acting solely in relation to the concept of genocide. I want to be very clear here, because precisely this has created confusion in the world. The only way to be able to sue Israel directly in the International Court is for genocide, because there is no jurisdiction to sue it for all the other international crimes it is committing. When South Africa filed this lawsuit, then the whole month of January the interviews were whether Israel or didn't commit genocide?
Is it that difficult to prove genocide? Israel is committing a series of incredible crimes, genocide is the only way to go directly against Israel because it does not accept jurisdiction for any other reason, in the same way that the United States does not accept it, and that is why Nicaragua's demand is not against the United States, because we do not have jurisdiction.
So the lawsuit against Germany, is because we do have full jurisdiction against Germany, since we are acting not only because it is supporting or not doing everything possible to prevent genocide, but also humanitarian laws are being violated, which do not need all the mechanisms of intention and others for genocide, simply dropping a two thousand pound bomb on a population is an international crime, violates humanitarian law.
Germany is seeing all this, Germany is also seeing that apartheid is being practiced, that self-determination is being prevented, so for all these reasons we are suing Germany, for that support, for that lack of action to prevent these violations of fundamental rights from happening and we are doing it because we have the jurisdiction to do so, precisely because one cannot go against Israel nor incidentally against the United States, which is Israel's enabler in all this.
So we are asking the Court to order Germany to stop its support to Israel, the support in arms and in all other types of support that it is giving, to obviously reinstate the support to UNRWA, which is not a moral obligation exclusively, it is an obligation of the International Community because of what has happened to the People of Palestine.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
But what is the significance of this suspension of Germany's assistance to UNRWA in the context of the accusation?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
You see, because Germany has an obligation to prevent as much as possible, to help prevent genocide from being committed, and if it is facilitating the population to die of hunger, the population to have no medicine, the population to have no help that it can receive, then it is not doing what it should... it is not fulfilling its obligations. In that aspect, we also consider that the lack of support that UNRWA had, because it is not a voluntary support offered suddenly, it is part of ... UNRWA’s operational mandate and suddenly by them going to suppress it is only... and at the moment when Israel asks for it, it is a collaboration with Israel, with all the crimes that are being committed in that country, that's why we are demanding that this support be reinstated in the same way that direct aid to Israel ceases.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Perfect, and what is Nicaragua's opinion on the role of the United States in the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
I think it is obvious to everyone that without the support of the United States none of this would be happening, and frankly, it is practically cynicism or they think the world is naive, to say that they are supporting... helping Israel. Israel is the power in that area, Israel is on par with the most powerful country in that entire area, and it is fighting a people, two million practically unarmed inhabitants and they feel the need to help Israel. how are they going to help you, if it is among the twenty most militarily powerful countries in the world? what collaboration could be needed? All this collaboration they know that it will go precisely to maintain the situation, which is a situation of violation of all the peremptory laws of International Law, then the United States is complicit, unfortunately as they do not accept the jurisdiction of the Court....
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Of course.
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
And it took the United States 40 years to sign the Genocide Convention, when they did it was with a lot of reservations, so that precisely it was practically a piece of paper. So for practical purposes the United States is not even a party to the Genocide Convention.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Of course.
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
So you can't act against them, and that's why they act as if this issue has nothing to do with them.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
And that shows up more in the veto, in the third veto at the United Nations, doesn't it?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
No of course it is that that is obviously already, in the United States that [does not] matter anymore because they spend their lives doing so. But obviously the veto is not an issue on which they cansay [...] all countries do it. I mean, how many countries do so, when everyone else in the world is against it?, because it is nothing more that here there is a group of countries and the United States within that group of countries is, for example, using a veto that represents a strong core of the world, no, the United States is practically alone in this.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
What is Nicaragua's opinion on the role of South Africa's Complaint to the International Court of Justice on the Israeli Genocide in the Gaza Strip?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
I think it was a very creditable gesture and action from South Africa. Frankly, I think it would have been very difficult to find a better Representative of the International Community to present this much-needed lawsuit against Israel. I think it was a great action. Nicaragua has fully supported it from the very beginning, and I want to tell you that Nicaragua has already intervened since the first days, as soon as the lawsuit was filed by South Africa, Nicaragua presented an intervention, and an intervention not for the interpretation of the Convention, but a full intervention based on everything that the law allows, so we are already for practical purposes part of that lawsuit, and we are waiting for other countries to also file. We believe that it is a just demand, it is a necessary demand, and curiously, or perhaps not curiously, one of the things that prompted us to act quickly, was precisely that when South Africa presented that demand practically the next day, Germany said that it was going to intervene in favor of Israel.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Yes, yes.
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
That was an incredible question and we said we have to act immediately, intervene ourselves, so Germany's intervention is not only in military aid bit that, it has to do with all kinds of aid.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Policy, whether political aid or political support, yes, and how do you think the International Community can contribute more effectively to resolving the situation in Palestine in general?
Doctor Carlos Argüello:
Unfortunately that is quite a difficult question. 40 years ago I initiated as an Agent a Nicaraguan Trial against the United States for the war that was going on... imposed on us in Nicaragua in the 80s. Obviously we were fighting with a world power, that is, then sometimes people asked me what, what was Nicaragua going to do, because the United States simply wasn't going to obey. One can quote a French jurist, who once asked“ "What can be done when a power does not obey the law?”, and he answered "the mobilization of shame”, and I think that's what's happening in the world right now. It is very clear, right now everything is obvious, and more shame, there can be no place in the world for what is happening, and shame on those who are not acting but rather helping this to continue, so I think that this mobilization of shame is what should be done and should continue to be done.
Presenter Asil Faradneh:
Of course, it is that the Peoples of the World all support Palestine, in conclusion, we thank Dr. Carlos Arguello for your participation and for enriching our understanding about Nicaragua’s accusations against Germany.
* Video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/m7dkjihA45