COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — Four aid organizations announced that they will sue the Danish state over what they say are breaches of international obligations under the EU and the United Nations for exporting arms used by Israel.
This week, they underlined the risk that exported arms and military supplies used in the war in Gaza could be responsible for human rights violations and war crimes, and say that Denmark must immediately stop all direct and indirect military support to Israel’s armed forces.
The organizations — Action Aid Denmark, Amnesty International in Denmark, Oxfam Ibis and the Palestinian group Al-Haq — will formally file their lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police in about a month, and the trial will most likely take years.
Sara Brandt, chief political advisor for ActionAid Denmark, told Courthouse News that it is a violation of international law to allow the export of any military equipment to Israel during the present conflict.
“We are suing because Denmark does not live up to its obligations under the U.N. and EU. The rules clearly state that it is in violation of international law if a country exports weapons or parts, if there is a clear risk that they can be used to commit war crimes abroad,” she said.
Brandt noted that Danish authorities have supported Israel both indirectly and directly, mentioning that technical equipment for fighter jets is sent to the U.S., who assembles the planes and sends them to Israel under the cross-country F-35 collaboration.
Earlier this week, protestors gathered outside Terma, one of the Danish factories producing weapons technology for the fighter jets and other supplies used in warfare.
Brandt says one of the main problems is a lack of public transparency with how the Danish armed forces and companies ship computers regulating bombs, torpedoes and other explosives abroad.
Investigative media Danwatch reported that northern Danish company MyDefence sent anti-drone equipment to Israel's miliary after Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent counter-attacks in Gaza.
However, company director Dan Hermansen told the media that Danish defense authorities do not have to approve military or dual-use exports of the products under existing rules.
But the level of public oversight and control has been insufficient, according to humanitarian rights organizations who filed the lawsuit.
They argue that the exported weapon components are most likely used to commit crimes against civilians in Gaza.
“We have seen evidence of a clear risk of war crimes, and according to the International Court of Justice, a plausible genocide in Gaza caused by Israel’s actions. They have targeted civilians, hospitals, journalists and emergency aid centers unproportionally, and it is against international war rules,” Brandt said.
The organizations base their lawsuit on articles six and seven in the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty, which say that a country “shall not authorize any transfer of conventional arms” if it knows they "would be used in commission of genocide, crimes against humanity ... or attacks directed against civilian objects.”
They also refer to the European Union’s rules for controlling the export of military technology, under which traders must deny export if the item could be used for serious violations of international humanitarian law.
For months, Denmark has seen generally broad public backing for an immediate cease-fire and increased protection for civilians in Gaza. On several occasions, tens of thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in the bigger cities.
Klaus Goldschmidt Henriksen, who has a Jewish family background, has been protesting. Referring to the new lawsuit, he said that juridical frameworks help back up political decisions now and in the future.
“It is a question of politics, and we have tried putting pressure on the Danish government to act on the injustice in Gaza. A lawsuit adds to that pressure and helps underline how international rules and order, many of them established after the Second World War, must be kept,” Goldschmidt Henriksen said.
In his view, it is especially important for people with a Jewish background to condemn the killings of civilians in Gaza.
“There is as tendency for Israel to strategically frame the Israeli state as synonymous with the Jewish people. But far from everyone supports its current actions,” Goldschmidt Henriksen said.
He backs a petition calling on politicians to acknowledge Denmark’s duty to prevent genocide. So far, the petition has almost 42,000 out of the mandatory 50,000 signatures it takes to bring it before the Danish Parliament.
The Danish government and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen have recently deplored the situation in Gaza and argued for a humanitarian cease-fire.
However, the minister also supports Israel’s right to defend itself. At a political meeting in January, he said that the export of F-35 fighter jet components was a legal procedure in Denmark’s interests of collaboration with the U.S. on security.
Still, the legal move “represents something warm and hopeful in an otherwise cold and dark time” for a woman who asked to be referred to as Suher, who grew up in Denmark with Palestinian parents from the West Bank.
She has also protested against the civilian losses in Gaza, and, as a doctor, tried to mobilize people from the health sector to take to the streets.
“We are five months in, and no one intervenes in the madness. It is very surreal. Hospitals are bombed in violation with international law, civilians are shot, and small children are being captured. It just gets worse and worse,” she said.
She has followed the situation in Gaza closely over many years and worked as a volunteer doctor in the area. She said that the backing for an immediate cease-fire and restoration of the West Bank has never been stronger in Denmark.
The Danish lawsuit follows a similar case in nearby Holland, where a Dutch court ordered the government to stop exporting components for fighter jets to Israel. Several similar claims are underway in other countries.
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