UN Secretary General António Guterres explained this Friday that he invoked Article 99 of the United Nations Charter due to the “breaking point” in Gaza, denouncing the high risk of “total collapse of the humanitarian support system.”
In a meeting of the Security Council convened after the unprecedented call of António Guterres, the leader of the United Nations urged the body whose decisions are binding to spare no effort to press “for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the protection of civilians and the urgent delivery of vital aid.
“There is clearly, in my opinion, a serious risk of aggravating existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security,” he reinforced, also 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 stressed that although Hamas’ indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel and the use of civilians as human shields constitute a violation of the laws of war, such conduct “does not absolve Israel of its own violations.” .
“The brutality perpetrated by Hamas 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 complete collapse of public order and increased pressure for mass movements towards Egypt.
The risk of collapse of the humanitarian system, he explained, is fundamentally linked to the complete lack of security and protection of UN personnel in Gaza, and to the nature and intensity of military operations, which severely limit access to people in need.
“The threat to the safety of United Nations staff in Gaza is unprecedented. More than 130 of my colleagues have already been killed, many of them with their families. This is the largest loss of life in the history of our Organization. Some of our “Staff bring their children to work so they know they will live or die together,” he said.
“The situation is simply becoming unsustainable,” he stressed.
The head of the United Nations also informed the Security Council that, under current conditions on the ground, compliance with the previous resolution adopted by the organization – which, among other points, called for an increase in the delivery of humanitarian aid – “has become impossible.”
“The conditions for effective delivery of humanitarian aid no longer exist,” he said.
Guterres also criticized the fact that the population of Gaza is being ordered to move like “balls of pinball – bouncing between smaller and smaller areas of the south, without any of the basic elements for survival.
In addition, the inhabitants of Gaza are running out of food, denouncing the serious risk of hunger and the collapse of the health system.
“Everything I have just described represents an unprecedented situation that has led me to my unprecedented decision to invoke Article 99, urging the members of the Security Council to press to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and calling for the declaration of a ceasefire. humanitarian fire,” he reinforced.
The international community must do everything possible to put an end to this terrible experience, he further urged.
Guterres concluded his speech with a call for a two-state solution, “with Israel and Palestine living 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 appealed.
In light of Guterres’ calls, the Security Council scheduled a vote at 5:30 p.m. (local time, 10:30 p.m. in Lisbon) on a resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
For the first time since assuming leadership of the United Nations in 2017, António Guterres on Wednesday invoked Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, the most powerful diplomatic instrument 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 that, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of peace and security in the world”.
In this sense, given the magnitude of the loss of human life in Gaza and Israel in such a short time, Guterres sent an unprecedented letter to the UN Security Council, calling on the organization to “press to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. , reiterating their calls for a ceasefire that would contain “potentially irreversible implications” for the Palestinians.
This initiative provoked new criticism from the Government of Israel, which accused the Secretary General of “a new level of moral turpitude” for calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and assessed his mandate as “a danger to world peace.”
Source: TSF
