We are witnessing a pandemic of inhumanity: to halt the spread, we must cling to the law | Karim Khan

There is no blank cheque in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The ICC is working to ensure justice is on the frontlines

• Karim Khan is chief prosecutor at the international criminal court

We are currently experiencing a moment of profound human suffering globally. A pandemic of inhumanity has taken hold, from Darfur to Ukraine, from the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan to the seemingly forgotten voices of Rohingya refugees in Myanmar, and now the intolerable tragedy that is deepening in Israel and the State of Palestine and threatening to spread wider. These human rights emergencies are interconnected. At their heart they are driven by a common crisis: a failure to give value to the lives of all people.

Amid this landscape, we must reject desensitisation. We cannot allow ourselves to be anaesthetised to this level of anguish. We must always remember that those we see pulled from the rubble, those awaiting news of family members abducted or killed, are the same as us. We should approach their plight with the same sense of urgency, empathy and compassion that we would if they were our own children, parents, friends or loved ones.

Karim Khan is chief prosecutor at the international criminal court (ICC)

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