Adila Hassim Who Is Representing South Africa In Its ‘Gaza Genocide Case’ Against IsraelSouth Africa has sent its A-team from the country’s legal fraternity to present its case, which is seeking proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The case is drawing attention to the violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) concerning Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The legal team includes John Dugard SC (one of South Africa’s top international law practitioners), Adila Hassim (Senior Counsel at Thulamela Chambers), Tembeka Ngcukaitobi (a senior South African advocate who had represented President Cyril Ramaphosa), Max Du Plessis (who practices and specializes in public law, human rights, international law, and competition law), Tshidiso Ramogale (one of the best young legal minds in South Africa, who also completed his master’s in law from Harvard University), Sarah Pudifin-Jones (a summa cum laude law graduate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and an LLM and MPhil graduate from Cambridge University), Lerato Zikalala (a Rhodes University alumna), Vaughan Lowe KC (an international law expert practicing at the Essex court chambers in the UK), and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh (a senior advocate at the bars of Ireland).
As the ICJ finished hearing arguments on day one, many from South Africa’s team delivered their opening statements, and it was Adila Hassim’s statement in front of the court that drew more attention on social media. Before Hassim, Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, and Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s justice minister, had spoken in the court today.
Advocate Adila Hassim, a senior counsel at the law firm Thulamela Chambers and an advocate who has been involved in a range of litigation regarding socio-economic rights and was lead counsel in the Life Esidimeni arbitration, outlined four genocidal acts committed by Israel in Gaza in a statement that lasted more than 20 minutes.
Adila Hassim, who has a long history of engaging in the intersections between policy, law, and health spanning back to being a clerk with Judge Pius Langa in the Soobramoney v Minister of Health (KwaZulu-Natal) case in 1997 – according to her bio on her firm’s website – talked about the details of Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s infliction of serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinians in Gaza, how Israel deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction, and the Israeli military’s assault on Gaza’s healthcare system, which renders life unsustainable.
“This is a case that underscores the very essence of our shared humanity, as expressed in the preamble to the Genocide Convention. South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed Article 2 of the convention by committing actions that fall within the definition of genocide. The actions show systematic patterns of conduct from which genocide can be inferred,” advocate Hassim said in her statement.
She has published in various legal and health journals, co-edited Health & Democracy: A Guide to Human Rights and Health Law and Policy in Post-apartheid South Africa, and was Co-founder and Director of Litigation at SECTION27 until 2017. Hassim holds a BALLB from the University of Natal, an LLM from the St. Louis University School of Law, and a JSD from the University of Notre Dame Law School. She, according to her bio, also co-founded Corruption Watch and serves on its board of directors and is a trustee of the Constitution Hill Trust.
She was admitted to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates in June 2003. Her preferred areas of practice include constitutional, administrative, health, and competition law, and she has appeared in various divisions of the High Courts and the Constitutional Court.