June 12, 2025
Subject: Human rights and humanitarian issues at G7 Leaders’ Summit
Dear G7 Leader,
I am writing to you on behalf of Human Rights Watch in advance of the upcoming G7 Leaders’ Summit, to be held from June 15-17, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. We note Canada’s intention to prioritize agreements and coordinated action on countering transnational repression and its emphasis on a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and other areas of armed conflict around the world.
G7 countries should speak out and condemn all cases of transnational repression, including by invited participants India and Saudi Arabia, and take tangible steps to address threats by adopting rights-respecting legal frameworks and policies to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable. The government of India has yet to properly address allegations of its role in the killing of a Sikh activist and Canadian citizen on June 18, 2023 in British Columbia, as well as threats against the Indian diaspora in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, of the government of Saudi Arabia, was directly implicated in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and has used its vast sovereign wealth fund to neutralize scrutiny of its poor human rights record.
G7 leaders should also focus attention on the protection of civilians in situations of armed conflict and obtaining justice for violations. In Ukraine, where Russia has been escalating attacks on civilians and civilian objects with drones, missiles, and other munitions, G7 countries should continue to support investigations and prosecutions of atrocity crimes.
It is essential that international law be applied without politicization or selectivity. We, therefore, also urge G7 leaders and other attendees to prioritize and focus discussion around concrete actions to end atrocity crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The G7 Leaders’ Summit takes place in the context of ongoing hostilities and Israel’s blockade of Gaza, where the civilian population is at a high risk of imminent famine. Human Rights Watch has documented war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide committed by Israeli authorities in Gaza, and war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, including during the October 7 attacks on Israel and in the taking of scores of hostages. Human Rights Watch research has also shown that Israel is contravening the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) legally binding orders by obstructing the entry of lifesaving aid and services into Gaza, as part of a case brought by South Africa alleging Israel’s violation of the Genocide Convention.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for serious crimes in Gaza. As you know, the court has come under extreme pressure from Israel and the United States following the issuance of these warrants. The Trump administration has sanctioned the court’s prosecutor and four judges for doing their work on behalf of justice. This is a flagrant attack on the rule of law.
Recent sanctions action against Israeli officials for their facilitation of settler violence by states including Canada, the UK, and Australia, represents an important first step. Concrete action on Gaza at the G7 level would build on this.
We welcome the joint statement issued by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on May 19, 2025, committing to take further concrete action if Israel proceeds with its plans to demolish what remains of Gaza’s remaining civilian infrastructure, unlawfully transfer the Palestinian population into a tiny area, and does not lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid. We also take note of the statement that six G7 members joined with 21 other states to make clear that Israel’s new model for aid distribution “places beneficiaries and aid workers at risk, undermines the role and independence of the UN and our trusted partners, and links humanitarian aid to political and military objectives.”
Since these statements, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly Gaza, has continued to worsen, with more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza killed in the weeks since the issuance of the statement, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On May 30, the UN described Gaza as “one of the most obstructed aid operations, not only in the world today, but in recent history,” and “the hungriest place on Earth.” In the West Bank, Israeli forces have ratcheted up their repression, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians in the northern West Bank on a scale not seen there since 1967.
The G7 Summit represents a critical opportunity to move beyond repeated affirmations of support for international human rights and humanitarian law, and toward concrete, time-bound measures to ensure their enforcement and to end decades of impunity for egregious violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
We, therefore, urge all G7 governments and other participating governments, in the lead up to and during the Summit, to:
- Unequivocally denounce and attribute ongoing and longstanding serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and commit to put an end to the impunity that fuels them;
- Adopt further targeted sanctions against Israeli officials responsible for ongoing serious abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
- Suspend all arms transfers to Israel, given the high risk of complicity in very serious international humanitarian law violations and also in consideration of the obligations to prevent genocide;
- Fully ban all trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements and support and make use of the UN database on businesses operating in those settlements;
- Review and consider suspending bilateral agreements with Israel including Trade Agreements that provide for preferential treatment;
- Express unequivocal support for the International Criminal Court, denounce all attacks against its independence and critical mandate, and commit to taking all necessary measures to protect the court and those cooperating with it, and to respect obligations to the ICC, including in executing all ICC arrest warrants, without exception.
We hope that your government, along with all countries participating in the G7 Summit, will swiftly take the necessary measures to comply with international law and to end these grave abuses.
Yours sincerely,
Bruno Stagno Ugarte
Chief Advocacy Officer
Human Rights Watch
