UN rapporteur calls on Portugal to remove flag from ship carrying explosives for Israel
The United Nations special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, called on the Government this Wednesday to “urgently request the removal” of the Portuguese flag from the ship “Kathrin”, which “carries weapons destined for Israel”.
“Over the last year, I have praised Portugal’s principled position on Palestine, especially in the face of the hypocrisy demonstrated by many other European countries. I now implore the Portuguese Government to preserve this integrity and to urgently request the removal of its flag from the ship ‘Kathrin’, as it carries weapons destined for Israel”, wrote the expert on the social network X.
On Monday, the coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Mariana Mortágua, delivered three thousand signatures to a public petition calling for the removal of the Portuguese flag from a ship transporting material for manufacture weapons in Israel.
BE asked for the head of Portuguese diplomacy to be heard in the parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs and delivered a presentation to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) in which it asks the Public Ministry to “inspect and prevent Portugal from being accused internationally of complicity with a genocide.” The hearing of the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, is scheduled for October 15th.
“After recognizing the plausibility of the genocide in Gaza, in January 2024, the ICJ [Tribunal Internacional de Justiça] made it clear that All States have an obligation to ‘respect and enforce’ the Genocide Convention’ in all circumstances‘, and that States have ‘international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to the parties to an armed conflict'”, noted the UN rapporteur. According to Albanese, the imposition of an arms embargo on Israel, “which continues to commit acts of genocide in Gaza”, is “one of those legal obligations”.
“European law cannot override international law, especially in the case of atrocities. Otherwise, it would compromise the supremacy of international law,” he warned. In the same publication on the social network X, the human rights specialist leaves a message for her “Portuguese friends”. “If we stand together in the firm defense of international law, we can stop this genocide and restore humanity and peace to Palestinians, Israelis and beyond”, she appealed, before finishing, in Portuguese: “Together, we can”.
Last Thursday, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, said that the Government is analyzing the legal possibility of removing the Portuguese flag from the ship.
ANDRÉ KOSTERS
At the end of August, after questions raised by BE and PCP, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the cargo ship “Kathrin” was carrying explosives and not weapons, had a Portuguese flag but was German and that it would not go to Israel.
In an interview with Público and Renascença radio last week, the minister Paulo Rangel said it has new data, according to which the ship’s final destination is Montenegro and Slovenia and the material will be used in weapons factories in Poland, Slovakia and Israel.
BE stated that Paulo Rangel “will go down in history as the boatman of the bombs of the genocide of the Palestinian people”, while the PCP accused the minister of making “a maneuver” in this case.
