Interview with the former United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

I am very grateful that Professor Michael Lynk agreed to share his wisdom, experience and legal expertise. What happens when international law is no longer respected?

Prince George, BC, January 5, 2026 - I have long believed that while Never Again is far from a reality, it remains a possibility. As an educator and an editorial writer, I therefore feel an obligation to do all that I can to lay the groundwork for a world free of genocide.

Genocide happens because many leaders in the West, and elsewhere, tacitly accept it. However, there are always resistors. If we study the lives and teachings of resistors, perhaps we can normalize the way they live their lives, and create a world where it is abnormal, rather than normal, to facilitate mass murder, either through direct action or mere passivity. Resistors are people who simply refuse to be complicit in the face of crimes against humanity.

As a Canadian, and as a graduate of the institution where he is professor emeritus of law, I am honoured to have been able to dialogue with one of the great rescuers of the 21^st century, Professor Micheal Lynk of the University of Western Ontario.

Lynk is the predecessor of Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He held this essential - though unpaid - position from 2016 to 2022. He is extremely knowledgeable of international law, recognizing the meaning of what is written on paper and the challenges faced when one tries to hold powerful players accountable.

I began our dialogue with these questions:

In the light of what has been happening in Gaza and the West Bank over the last two years, do you agree that Israel’s actions have been facilitated by countries in the settler-colonial block (The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, France, Germany, etc.)? Who else is responsible?

To this Professor Lynk responded:

“Israel cannot have maintained and deepened an illegal 58-year occupation, let alone conduct a two-year genocide, killing at least 70 000 people – likely many more – except through the diplomatic, economic and military support, and complicity of the Global North, primarily Europe and North America.

“Primarily, we need to look at the 1948 Genocide Convention, the full name of which is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The point of the Genocide Convention is not to give comfort to historians 25 years from now that this can be called a genocide, it is to punish and prevent genocide at this present moment if there is any likelihood that it might be occurring.

“We have the January 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ – the court that deals with nation-to-nation issues) interim ruling that the arguments by South Africa alleging that Israel might be committing genocide are plausible. Yet, it was swept aside by countries in the Global North. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, stated that Canada’s support for the ICJ does not mean that we accept the premise of the case brought by South Africa.

“Unlike the laws of a particular state, international law depends on international political will to be put into force. Modern international law reflects the values of the modern world. The United States under (Joe) Biden and (Donald) Trump laid the groundwork for undermining international law by attacking the courts, vetoing UN resolutions critical of Israel, and putting pressure on other countries not to enforce international law.

“Under the Genocide Convention, it is prohibited to commit genocide, and it is also prohibited to be complicit in genocide. The Americans, the Germans and others provide weapons to Israel, and have given economic and diplomatic support to Israel. That is also punishable under the Genocide Convention.

“Theoretically, the present leaders of the United States could also be held accountable under Section 70 of the Rome Statute of 1998 (of which Canada is a signatory) for imposing sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC - the court which deals with individuals who have allegedly committed crimes against humanity, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). Francesca Albanese, my successor, is also being sanctioned for encouraging countries to cooperate with the court. ICC officials understand the precarious political reality of the world in which we live, and would be unlikely to pursue the Americans on this ground, even though they have a very strong legal case.

“The US could also come after the International Court of Justice if the court rules that Israel has committed genocide, a decision that can be expected in 2027. That would put the international world order in a precarious situation.

“The Americans, it should be noted, do not even follow their own laws, such as the Leahy Law that prohibits the sale of weapons to state actors if there are credible reports of gross violations of human rights. Several progressive politicians in that country, however, have already brought up this issue.

“In Canada, we’ve incorporated the 1949 Geneva Conventions into Canadian law by act of parliament, as well as the 1998 Rome Statute. Therefore, according to domestic Canadian law, occupation, settlements in occupied territories, and genocide are against our laws.”

Given this reality, I asked, “How likely are these laws to be enforced?” At this point, Lynk put on his law professor hat, stating:

“We need to keep in mind the countervailing forces of law in service of power and law in service of justice. Up until now, law in service of power has often had the upper hand.”

To this I objected, “But the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice!”

Lynk replied, “Yes, Martin Luther King often used that phrase, but his close aide Jesse Jackson added, ‘We the people must bend it. It will not bend on its own.’

“Presently, law in service of justice is in its ascendancy. People cannot unsee what they have witnessed in Gaza over the last two years. There is a changing political mood in Canada and internationally with regard to Israel and Palestine. While it is unlikely that Canadian politicians will be held accountable legally for their support of the illegal Israeli settlements and their tacit indifference to the Israeli genocide, they may be held accountable politically. Almost certainly they will be held accountable historically.

“The Israel lobby is very well funded and well organized. In the past, it has been able to shift political will in their favour. Today their ability to create the political narrative is more restrained than it was two years ago because of what people have seen and heard.”

With that, Professor Lynk and I shook hands, and he offered to continue our discussion at a later date.

I am very grateful to Michael Lynk for his time, but I am especially grateful for his realism and his honesty. If Never Again is to become a reality, we must apply international law to everyone, even to ourselves and our allies. If powerful countries continue to undermine international law, we are putting global order and world peace at tremendous risk. The inherent danger we are creating cannot be understated.

The ICJ and ICC do not have their own police or their own armies. International law depends on countries and their citizens for enforcement. Are there enough decent people in the world, enough resistors - like Michael Lynk - to bend the moral universe toward justice?