Recognition of Domicide as a Pathway to Accountability and Responsibility - Balakrishnan Rajagopal

Описание: Gaza Tribunal Final Session - Day 2 - The Crimes: Domicide, Balakrishnan Rajagopal

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing and professor of law and development at MIT, addresses the mass destruction of homes and displacement in Gaza. As the ceasefire remains in tatters, hundreds of thousands of displaced people are returning to find only rubble, with northern Gaza decimated and resembling a moonscape. Domicide, the mass destruction of housing, residential buildings, homes, property, and civilian infrastructure, is the most visible, recorded, and unique element of the war on Gaza since 2023. When systematic and widespread with genocidal intent, it constitutes war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The level of destruction in Gaza is more acute than even the worst examples including Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, Tokyo, Aleppo, or Mariupol. More than 90 percent of all housing has been destroyed and Israel has dropped more than 200,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, equivalent to more than 13 nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima. Almost all civilian infrastructure including water, electricity, sanitation, schools, universities, and hospitals have been obliterated or damaged. Almost 94 percent of hospitals, 95 percent of school buildings, and 89 percent of water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged.

Almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million population have been displaced, half of them children, often multiple times. More than 2 million people are homeless, more rendered homeless in shorter time than any conflict in recent memory. Despite this catastrophe, massive destruction of housing is not condemned or criminalized on its own terms under international law. Homes are supposed to be protected objects under international humanitarian law but can lose that status too easily if there is military objective link. The normative, moral, and political black hole in which mass destruction of housing exists is why he proposed the term domicide to the UN General Assembly to name it, understand it, condemn it, and prevent it.

A home is not just four walls and roof but repository of memories, hopes, and aspirations. Destruction leads to profound psychological loss and trauma, disintegration of community life and intangible heritage, causing profound cultural loss. Housing is a gateway right to other rights including right to self-determination because self-determination depends on having control over land. Domicide is an attack on a people and their self-determination. Israel's use of artificial intelligence through systems like Lavender, Gospel, and Where Is Daddy, systematic demolition using explosives, robots, and D-9 bulldozers, and pattern of mass bombardment show destruction has been intentional, disproportionate, and unnecessary for any plausible military objective.