Dr. Patrick Costello:

There was a question on what concrete measures can be taken and our requests in the presentation are the key elements on which we would focus. We do not have volunteers in Gaza. We had tried that in the past but entry into Gaza is tightly controlled by the Israeli Government so it just has not been possible. We would love to get into Gaza and provide support there. A variety of non-governmental organisations, NGOs, do great work on the ground in Gaza and I can provide a link to those for the committee if members are interested. Unfortunately, despite wanting to get into Gaza, we cannot do it. Again, it is reflective of the occupation, control and siege of Gaza.

With regard to the International Criminal Court, international law is the main underpinning of our programme. We base ourselves, our reports, decisions and actions on international humanitarian law. The institutions of international law such as the International Criminal Court are central to that and they need to be supported and allowed to work. We have also seen attempts to attack and undermine these by Mr. John Bolton, as well as cuts to funding and the unilateral actions by the United States that were mentioned earlier. We fully support the ICC.