Joint Statement of Foreign Ministers on the Global Sumud Flotilla

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris, has today joined with Foreign Ministers of 15 other countries to express concern about the security of the Global Sumud Flotilla. The joint statement reads as follows:

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain and Türkiye express their concern about the security of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civil society initiative in which citizens of their countries are participating.

The Global Sumud Flotilla has informed about its objective of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza. Both objectives, peace and humanitarian aid delivery, together with the respect of international law, including humanitarian law, are shared by our Governments.

We therefore call on everyone to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the Flotilla, to respect international law and international humanitarian law.

We recall that any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the Flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability.