The GCIV, for example, strictly guards the provision of education and imposes
a duty on the Occupying Power to provide food and “medical and hospital
establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied
territory.”10
The forcible transfer of the protected population from their place of residence
without grounds permitted under international law is strictly prohibited,11 and
constitutes a grave breach as per Article 147 of the GCIV. The displacement of
the occupied population in the context of ongoing hostilities or for imperative
military reasons does not qualify as forcible transfer, but these cases must be
strictly construed and the displacement must be temporary.12
International Criminal Law
Direct or indirect forcible transfer is recognized as one of the most heinous
acts that can be committed, and amounts to a war crime under the Rome
Statute of the ICC.13 Moreover, under the Rome Statute, when committed
as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population,
forcible transfer can also give rise to individual criminal responsibility as a
crime against humanity.14
Jurisprudence from the ICC and other international criminal tribunals
have held that forcible transfer may be caused by acts or omissions which
amount to creating or taking advantage of a coercive environment.15 In
many cases, the denial of access to natural resources and services leading to
the deprivation of “economic, social and cultural development”16 could be
considered as a contributing factor to the creation of a coercive environment,
causing indirect forcible transfer.17
The wanton and willful acts of appropriating resources as well as violating the
human rights of the inhabitants, creating coercive environments that lead to
10 Id., arts. 50 and 56.
11 GCIV, art. 49, supra note 5.
12 Ibid.
13 UN General Assembly, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17 July 1998, art. 8(2)(a)
(vii), available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3a84.html [accessed 29 September 2017]
[hereinafter UNGA, Rome Statute].
14 Id., art. 7(1)(d).
15 BADIL, Coercive Environments: Israel’s Forced Population Transfer of the Palestinians in the Occupied
Territory, February 2017, http://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/publications/research/
in-focus/FT-Coercive-Environments.pdf [hereinafter BADIL, Coercive Environments].
16 UNGA, ICCPR, art. 1, supra note 1; UNGA, ICESCR, art. 1, supra note 1.
17 For more information, see BADIL, Coercive Environments, 7-8, supra note 15.
13
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