UN Secretary-General António Guterres explained on Friday that he is invoking Article 99 of the United Nations Charter over the “breaking point” in Gaza, denouncing the high risk of “total collapse of the humanitarian aid system.”
At a meeting of the Security Council convened in response to António Guterres’ unprecedented appeal, the United Nations leader urged the UN body whose decisions are binding to do everything in its power to push for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the protection of civilians and the urgent delivery of essential aid.”
“There is clearly, in my view, a serious risk of an exacerbation of existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security,” he stressed, further denouncing that “there is no effective protection of civilians.”
“I fear that the consequences could be devastating for the security of the entire region,” Guterres stressed.
The UN leader emphasized that while Hamas’ indiscriminate launching of rockets against Israel and its use of civilians as human shields constitute a violation of the laws of war, such behavior “does not absolve Israel of its own violations.”
“Hamas’ brutality can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he argued.
The former Portuguese Prime Minister, who has been harshly criticized by the Israeli government for invoking Article 99, gave a lengthy description of the critical scenario facing Palestinian civilians and humanitarian workers on the ground, predicting that it will result in a total collapse of the Palestinian territories. public order and an increase in pressure on mass movements to Egypt.
The risk of collapse of the humanitarian system, he explained, is fundamentally linked to the total lack of security and protection of UN personnel in Gaza, and the nature and intensity of military operations, which severely limit access to people in need .
“The threat to the security of United Nations personnel in Gaza is unprecedented. More than 130 of my colleagues have already been killed, many of them with their families. This is the greatest loss of life in the history of our organization. Some of our employees take their children to work so they know they will live or die together,” he said.
“The situation is simply becoming untenable,” he further stressed.
The head of the United Nations also informed the Security Council that, under the current conditions on the ground, compliance with the previous resolution adopted by the body – which, among other things, called for an increase in the delivery of humanitarian aid – “is impossible become’.
“The conditions for the effective delivery of humanitarian aid no longer exist,” he said.
Guterres also criticized the fact that the people of Gaza are being told to move like “human pinball machines – bouncing between smaller and smaller areas in the south, without any basic element of survival.”
In addition, Gazans are running out of food, highlighting the serious risk of hunger and a collapsing healthcare system.
“Everything I have just described represents an unprecedented situation that has led to my unprecedented decision to invoke Article 99, urging the members of the Security Council to apply pressure to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and to call for the declaration of a humanitarian ceasefire.”
The international community must do everything possible to end this ordeal, he further urged.
Guterres concluded his speech by calling for a two-state solution, “where Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace and security.”
“The eyes of the world – and the eyes of history – are watching. It is time to act,” he called.
In view of Guterres’ calls, the Security Council has scheduled a vote at 5:30 PM (local time, 10:30 PM in Lisbon) on a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
For the first time since he took over leadership of the United Nations in 2017, António Guterres invoked Article 99 of the United Nations Charter on Wednesday, the most powerful diplomatic tool available to a UN Secretary General.
The article in question, formally used only three times (1960, 1979 and 1989) in the entire history of the UN, states that the Secretary-General “may draw the attention of the Council to any matter which, in his opinion, could pose a threat to the UN. the maintenance of peace and security in the world”.
In this sense, given the scale of the loss of life in Gaza and Israel in such a short time, Guterres sent an unprecedented letter to the UN Security Council, calling on the body to “pressure for a humanitarian prevent catastrophe’. Gaza reiterated their calls for a ceasefire that would have “potentially irreversible consequences” for the Palestinians.
This initiative resulted in new criticism from the government of Israel, which accused the Secretary General of “a new level of moral baseness” for calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and assessed his mandate as “a danger to the world peace”.
Source: DN
