Above photo: Alisdare Hickson, “Free Palestine – Stop Arming Israel” / Wikimedia Commons.
Call for stronger actions.
Friends of the Hague Group (FOTHG), a coalition of major global social movements committed to supporting multilateral efforts to stop the genocide in Palestine and ensuring that such efforts are guided by the demands of organized Palestinian society, has launched a global campaign asking The Hague Group to take decisive action to bring an end to the genocide in Palestine.
In a sign-on letter, FOTHG and major social movement signatories recognize the important policy commitments made by states in the context of The Hague Group, which will hold its third meeting in Amsterdam on March 6-7, 2026. At the same time, they urge them to rectify their previous failure to support co-chair Colombian President Petro’s commitment to introduce a Uniting for Peace resolution at the UNGA to ensure protection for Palestinians. Multinational protection through the United Nations is the primary demand of Palestinian civil society as represented by its largest collective voice, the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), and has been endorsed by nearly all Palestinian factions and forces. By not supporting Petro’s proposal, States have emboldened the U.S. government to introduce Resolution 2803 (The “Trump Plan” for Gaza) and facilitated its passage without opposition in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). As a result, the so-called “Board of Peace” now threatens to render the United Nations obsolete.
Among the initial organizational signatories of the FOTHG letter are the World March of Women, an international feminist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist social movement mobilizing in 61 countries; the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), which, with member organizations in over 50 countries, counts among its main objectives to “work together to achieve the aims set out in the Charter of the United Nations,”; the International Peace Bureau (IPB), a Nobel Peace Laureate representing 400 member organisations in 100 countries working toward a world without war and which—like IADL—has long held consultative status at the UN; and the Union Sindacale di Base, the Italian labor federation that has shut that country down for Palestine on numerous occasions, and most recently led a global day of action on February 6 to demand an end to militarization and genocide, which included the shutdown of ports throughout the Mediterranean.
Sean Connor, Executive Director of the International Peace Bureau, calls the Board of Peace “a direct attack on Palestinian sovereignty and right to self-determination.” He adds: “The Hague Group can still resist US dominance and counter it with approaches based in international law that center the rights and dignity of Palestinians.”
Edre Olalia, IADL president, states: “IADL has stood firm against genocide, racism, fascism and all sorts of discrimination over the years. It advances the right of peoples to self-determination and the right to a just peace.” Referencing the work in the 1960s of IADL lawyers who stood against South African apartheid and helped initiate United Nations action to bring about its end, he adds: “The same decisive, immediate action is required in Palestine as Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and the West Bank continues unabated. International law has failed the Palestinian people for over 75 years, and The Hague Group must act immediately and decisively to help ensure that this failure ends now. The impunity with which Israel, the United States, and their allies have been acting threatens us all, and the very existence of international law. The IADL supports initiatives for The Hague Group nations to answer the call of Palestinian civil society and pursue a Uniting for Peace resolution at the UNGA. This is a concrete way to contribute to ending Israeli genocide and ecocide and to uphold international law.”
Alejandra Laprea, Latin American and Caribbean coordinator for World March of Women, emphasizes that the global escalation in wars and attacks has produced “very dark times,” leaving no region unscathed. She notes that Latin America and the Caribbean—which declared itself a Zone of Peace over a decade ago—has been “a gallows since September thanks to Trump’s actions.” According to Laprea, “This impunity and ‘new order’ is the result of the deplorable precedent set by the genocide in Palestine. The inaction of states and international organizations has sent a message not only to Israel but to other powerful entities that they can do whatever they want, with any territory.” However, she affirms: “I do not believe it is too late to stand up and exert all possible pressure so that Palestine can have peace and recover its territories. Doing so, in turn, will help us build a world where sovereign countries are treated with respect and as equals—a world where there are no blockades, like the one against Cuba, nor genocidal occupations like in Palestine.”
The USB has been one of the most vocal supporters among the global labor movement of Palestinian Civil society’s call for multinational protection and the use of the UNGA Uniting for Peace mechanism. Francesco Staccioli, member of USB’s national board, confirms the trade confederation’s support for this Friends of The Hague Group initiative “as a decision in line with the large-scale mobilisations we organised with the ‘block everything’ call by our dockworkers, the huge demonstrations we led last Autumn, and the international strike called on the 6th of february in solidarity with Palestinian people and to stop the criminal genocide carried out by Israel.”
Many of the initiative’s signatory organizations will be represented at the People’s Congress for The Hague Group, taking place in parallel to the diplomatic meetings in Amsterdam, and will bring their message directly to State participants, emphasizing their commitment to back States that act based in the demands of organized Palestinian civil society:
“As global social movements committed to taking our lead from Palestinian civil society, we will firmly support your leadership in this endeavor at the UNGA, through exerting sustained pressure on world governments to pass this resolution, and in so doing, to bring about a more just and equal era in global multilateral relations. We will support you in the halls of power, through our communications networks, and on the streets. After all, our common survival depends on it.”
