2023/12/07
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks at the G77 and China Leaders’ Summit during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). In a rare move, Guterres has urged the UN Security Council to take action to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
Mahmoud Khaled/COP28/dpa
In a rare move, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the UN Security Council to take action to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
In a letter to the Security Council on Wednesday, the UN chief invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since taking office in 2017.
The massive loss of life in the Gaza Strip and in Israel within a comparatively short period of time spurred Guterres's decision to invoke Article 99, according to the UN.
This allows the secretary general to draw the attention of the Security Council to "any matter which, in his opinion, may jeopardize the maintenance of international peace and security." According to the UN, Article 99 has not been invoked for decades.
"Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared," Guterres said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
He attached his letter to his post.
"I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent," the letter said.
"The civilian population must be spared from greater harm."
He outlined the dire situation for civilians in the narrow coastal strip of land, warning of total breakdown of civil society and the spread of disease due to overcrowding in inhumane living conditions.
Almost 1.9 million, more than three-quarters of the Gaza Strip's population, have been forced to leave their homes and corralled into an ever-decreasing space in the southern Gaza Strip, where they have neither access to drinking water, nor enough to eat.
"Without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible," Guterres wrote.
"The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost."
Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen sharply criticized Guterres' move.
"Guterres' tenure is a danger to world peace," Cohen said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"His request to activate Article 99 and the call for a cease fire in Gaza constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organization and an endorsement of the murder of the elderly, the abduction of babies and the rape of women," Cohen continued.
"Anyone who supports world peace must support the liberation of Gaza from Hamas."
The relationship between Israel and the UN is strained. The UN bodies reflect the attitude of the countries of the world, the majority of which are highly critical of Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip which have killed many thousands of civilians.
The Security Council operates in a different way however, and veto-wielding permanent members have greater power.
So far, the most powerful UN body has been divided on the call for a ceasefire, with such a move vetoed by the US.
The United Arab Emirates on Thursday submitted a new draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"The UAE calls for a humanitarian ceasefire resolution to be adopted urgently and has just submitted a draft to the UNSC," the Permanent Mission of the Gulf state announced via the short messaging service X, formerly Twitter.
Describing the situation in the Gaza Strip as "catastrophic and close to irreversible," the post went on to say that action was needed now.
"We cannot wait. The Council must act decisively to call for a humanitarian ceasefire."
Israel's massive military retaliation was triggered by the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history, by militants from Hamas and other terrorist groups on October 7 in southern Israel. Israel says more than 1,200 people, including around 850 civilians, were killed.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, the Israeli army has killed more than 16,200 people in the Gaza Strip since then.
This figure cannot be independently verified at present. However, the UN and observers point out that the authority's figures have proved to be generally credible in the past.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
In a rare move, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the UN Security Council to take action to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
In a letter to the Security Council on Wednesday, the UN chief invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since taking office in 2017.
The massive loss of life in the Gaza Strip and in Israel within a comparatively short period of time spurred Guterres's decision to invoke Article 99, according to the UN.
This allows the secretary general to draw the attention of the Security Council to "any matter which, in his opinion, may jeopardize the maintenance of international peace and security." According to the UN, Article 99 has not been invoked for decades.
"Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared," Guterres said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
He attached his letter to his post.
"I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent," the letter said.
"The civilian population must be spared from greater harm."
He outlined the dire situation for civilians in the narrow coastal strip of land, warning of total breakdown of civil society and the spread of disease due to overcrowding in inhumane living conditions.
Almost 1.9 million, more than three-quarters of the Gaza Strip's population, have been forced to leave their homes and corralled into an ever-decreasing space in the southern Gaza Strip, where they have neither access to drinking water, nor enough to eat.
"Without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible," Guterres wrote.
"The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost."
Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen sharply criticized Guterres' move.
"Guterres' tenure is a danger to world peace," Cohen said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"His request to activate Article 99 and the call for a cease fire in Gaza constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organization and an endorsement of the murder of the elderly, the abduction of babies and the rape of women," Cohen continued.
"Anyone who supports world peace must support the liberation of Gaza from Hamas."
The relationship between Israel and the UN is strained. The UN bodies reflect the attitude of the countries of the world, the majority of which are highly critical of Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip which have killed many thousands of civilians.
The Security Council operates in a different way however, and veto-wielding permanent members have greater power.
So far, the most powerful UN body has been divided on the call for a ceasefire, with such a move vetoed by the US.
The United Arab Emirates on Thursday submitted a new draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"The UAE calls for a humanitarian ceasefire resolution to be adopted urgently and has just submitted a draft to the UNSC," the Permanent Mission of the Gulf state announced via the short messaging service X, formerly Twitter.
Describing the situation in the Gaza Strip as "catastrophic and close to irreversible," the post went on to say that action was needed now.
"We cannot wait. The Council must act decisively to call for a humanitarian ceasefire."
Israel's massive military retaliation was triggered by the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history, by militants from Hamas and other terrorist groups on October 7 in southern Israel. Israel says more than 1,200 people, including around 850 civilians, were killed.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, the Israeli army has killed more than 16,200 people in the Gaza Strip since then.
This figure cannot be independently verified at present. However, the UN and observers point out that the authority's figures have proved to be generally credible in the past.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Can Guterres’ unprecedented invocation of Article 99 end the war in Gaza?
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invokes rare Article 99 to demand Security Council action for a ceasefire, as Gaza faces imminent total collapse of the humanitarian system.
SENA SERIM
AA
The United Nations warns that the entire infrastructure supporting health, sanitation, and fundamental humanitarian needs is on the brink of complete collapse in Gaza. / Photo: AA
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time in over 50 years, marking a rare exercise of power to call on the Security Council to demand a humanitarian ceasefire in besieged Gaza.
With more than 17,000 Palestinians killed, 46,000 wounded, and 7,600 missing in the 63-day Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the United Nations warns that the entire infrastructure supporting health, sanitation, and fundamental humanitarian needs is on the brink of complete collapse.
In a letter addressed to the President of the Security Council, Jose Javier de la Gasca Lopez Dominguez, on Wednesday, Guterres emphasised the urgency of the situation: “I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent.”
He warned of the severe risk of Israel’s war on Gaza becoming a global threat, stating, “The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
Article 99 of the UN Charter grants the Secretary-General the authority to bring any matter to the attention of the Security Council that, in his opinion, may threaten international peace and security.
But why is its recent invocation significant?
“It's very significant because this is possibly the only political power given to the UN Secretary-General,” Mark Seddon, Director of the University of Buckingham’s Centre for UN Studies and former media adviser to the UN, tells TRT World.
“It allows him to convene a meeting of the UN Security Council at his call to put before the members permanent five and the elected members a formal warning about a threat to international peace and security.”
The five pemanent members of the UNSC are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia, while ten non-permanent members are elected for specific periods.
Guterres' decision to invoke Article 99 follows repeated failures of the Security Council to adopt resolutions for a ceasefire due to disagreements among its permanent members.
Late Wednesday, The United Arab Emirates proposed a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, scheduled for a vote on Friday morning.
Experts believe that Guterres' use of Article 99 and the proposed resolution by the UAE could be effective in ending the war in Gaza.
“If the Security Council passes this resolution, then we will have essentially the whole world calling upon the parties to end the fighting and to bring about a ceasefire,” Seddon states.
“It could then follow on from that and look at the security measures that might be put in place by the UN, in Gaza, for instance. Because elsewhere, when this has happened, previously there have been UN peacekeeping forces.”
While the use of the UN Charter’s Article 99 is rare, it has been invoked on four occasions in the past — in the Congo in 1960, in East Pakistan - now Bangladesh - in 1971, in Iran in 1979, and in Lebanon in 1989.
Although not always resulting in lasting peace, Seddon emphasises its potential to halt immediate hostilities and initiate discussions towards a final peace agreement.
“In the case of the Congo in 1960, the use of the article ended the secession of the Katanga province from Congo in 1960, but it has not prevented the conflict from continuing,” Seddon explains.
“Still, UN peacekeepers became very active. The United Nations is still in the Democratic Republic of Congo to this day. And in Lebanon, the UN peacekeepers are still on the border between southern Lebanon and Israel, and there is a continuing UN involvement.”
The article is invoked, essentially when the Secretary-General believes, having taken heed of what the vast majority of member states and the United Nations on the ground are telling him, that this is a desperate situation and this conflict has to be ended, Seddon says.
However, the resolution could face a potential veto from the United States, Israel’s closest ally. The resolution would then move to the UN General Assembly in such a scenario.
Seddon mentions the possibility of The Uniting for Peace resolution in that case, allowing the majority of member states in the General Assembly to decide on actions needed to achieve a ceasefire, bypassing the Security Council's impasse.
Previously, on October 18, the United States had vetoed the resolution calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
SOURCE: TRT WORLD
Sena Serim is an assistant producer at TRT World.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invokes rare Article 99 to demand Security Council action for a ceasefire, as Gaza faces imminent total collapse of the humanitarian system.
SENA SERIM
AA
The United Nations warns that the entire infrastructure supporting health, sanitation, and fundamental humanitarian needs is on the brink of complete collapse in Gaza. / Photo: AA
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time in over 50 years, marking a rare exercise of power to call on the Security Council to demand a humanitarian ceasefire in besieged Gaza.
With more than 17,000 Palestinians killed, 46,000 wounded, and 7,600 missing in the 63-day Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the United Nations warns that the entire infrastructure supporting health, sanitation, and fundamental humanitarian needs is on the brink of complete collapse.
In a letter addressed to the President of the Security Council, Jose Javier de la Gasca Lopez Dominguez, on Wednesday, Guterres emphasised the urgency of the situation: “I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent.”
He warned of the severe risk of Israel’s war on Gaza becoming a global threat, stating, “The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
Article 99 of the UN Charter grants the Secretary-General the authority to bring any matter to the attention of the Security Council that, in his opinion, may threaten international peace and security.
But why is its recent invocation significant?
“It's very significant because this is possibly the only political power given to the UN Secretary-General,” Mark Seddon, Director of the University of Buckingham’s Centre for UN Studies and former media adviser to the UN, tells TRT World.
“It allows him to convene a meeting of the UN Security Council at his call to put before the members permanent five and the elected members a formal warning about a threat to international peace and security.”
The five pemanent members of the UNSC are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia, while ten non-permanent members are elected for specific periods.
Guterres' decision to invoke Article 99 follows repeated failures of the Security Council to adopt resolutions for a ceasefire due to disagreements among its permanent members.
Late Wednesday, The United Arab Emirates proposed a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, scheduled for a vote on Friday morning.
Experts believe that Guterres' use of Article 99 and the proposed resolution by the UAE could be effective in ending the war in Gaza.
“If the Security Council passes this resolution, then we will have essentially the whole world calling upon the parties to end the fighting and to bring about a ceasefire,” Seddon states.
“It could then follow on from that and look at the security measures that might be put in place by the UN, in Gaza, for instance. Because elsewhere, when this has happened, previously there have been UN peacekeeping forces.”
While the use of the UN Charter’s Article 99 is rare, it has been invoked on four occasions in the past — in the Congo in 1960, in East Pakistan - now Bangladesh - in 1971, in Iran in 1979, and in Lebanon in 1989.
Although not always resulting in lasting peace, Seddon emphasises its potential to halt immediate hostilities and initiate discussions towards a final peace agreement.
“In the case of the Congo in 1960, the use of the article ended the secession of the Katanga province from Congo in 1960, but it has not prevented the conflict from continuing,” Seddon explains.
“Still, UN peacekeepers became very active. The United Nations is still in the Democratic Republic of Congo to this day. And in Lebanon, the UN peacekeepers are still on the border between southern Lebanon and Israel, and there is a continuing UN involvement.”
The article is invoked, essentially when the Secretary-General believes, having taken heed of what the vast majority of member states and the United Nations on the ground are telling him, that this is a desperate situation and this conflict has to be ended, Seddon says.
However, the resolution could face a potential veto from the United States, Israel’s closest ally. The resolution would then move to the UN General Assembly in such a scenario.
Seddon mentions the possibility of The Uniting for Peace resolution in that case, allowing the majority of member states in the General Assembly to decide on actions needed to achieve a ceasefire, bypassing the Security Council's impasse.
Previously, on October 18, the United States had vetoed the resolution calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
SOURCE: TRT WORLD
Sena Serim is an assistant producer at TRT World.
ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE
UN agencies: Child dying every 10 mins; 'horror scenes' in Gaza
2023/12/05
UN agencies: Child dying every 10 mins; 'horror scenes' in Gaza
2023/12/05
Palestinians, injured during an Israeli bombing, arrive at the Nasser Hospital.
Ahmed Zakot/dpa
The security situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip "is getting worse by the hour," World Health Organization representative for the region Richard Peeperkorn said by video link from Rafah on the border with Egypt. "A child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza," Peeperkorn said.
James Elder, spokesman for UN children's organization UNICEF was critical of Israeli calls for civilians to leave certain parts of the region for designated zones.
"These are tiny patches of barren land, or street corners, or sidewalks, or half-built buildings. There is no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and the rain, there is no sanitation. The so-called safe zones are at risk of becoming zones of disease," he said. Israel had obligations as the occupying power to provide food, shelter and medicines, he added.
The zones were not rational, Elder said. "They are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this." He accused the Israeli authorities of "lethal" indifference towards children and woman in the Gaza Strip.
Peeperkorn said the WHO had been forced to evacuate two warehouses in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip after an IDF report that fighting could occur there. On Monday the IDF denied calling for the warehouse to be evacuated.
Peeperkorn described "horror scenes" in the few remaining hospitals, where there were twice as many patients as beds and severely injured patients were lying untreated on the floor.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
NGO leader Egeland: Gaza is 'a total failure of our shared humanity'
The security situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip "is getting worse by the hour," World Health Organization representative for the region Richard Peeperkorn said by video link from Rafah on the border with Egypt. "A child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza," Peeperkorn said.
James Elder, spokesman for UN children's organization UNICEF was critical of Israeli calls for civilians to leave certain parts of the region for designated zones.
"These are tiny patches of barren land, or street corners, or sidewalks, or half-built buildings. There is no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and the rain, there is no sanitation. The so-called safe zones are at risk of becoming zones of disease," he said. Israel had obligations as the occupying power to provide food, shelter and medicines, he added.
The zones were not rational, Elder said. "They are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this." He accused the Israeli authorities of "lethal" indifference towards children and woman in the Gaza Strip.
Peeperkorn said the WHO had been forced to evacuate two warehouses in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip after an IDF report that fighting could occur there. On Monday the IDF denied calling for the warehouse to be evacuated.
Peeperkorn described "horror scenes" in the few remaining hospitals, where there were twice as many patients as beds and severely injured patients were lying untreated on the floor.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
NGO leader Egeland: Gaza is 'a total failure of our shared humanity'
2023/12/05
Palestinians queue to receive clean water from a water station.
Ahmed Zakot/dpa
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said Tuesday that the Gaza war "ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age."
Egeland said in statement that severe restrictions on aid access into the Gaza Strip have aggravated the situation, "leading to starvation among Gaza's population and intensifying an already dire humanitarian crisis."
He added that 1.9 million people, or almost the entire population, have been displaced and nearly two in three homes are damaged or destroyed.
"Tens of thousands live on the streets of southern Gaza, where, under bombardment, they are forced to improvise basic shelters from whatever they can get hold of," he said.
He stressed that those responsible "for the killings, the torture, and the atrocities" committed in Israel on October 7 must be held accountable.
"We again demand that all hostages are immediately and unconditionally released. Neither the lives of innocent children, women or men, nor the ability of aid workers to access the vulnerable, should be used as bargaining chips," Egeland said.
"The situation in Gaza is a total failure of our shared humanity. The killing must stop," Egeland said.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said Tuesday that the Gaza war "ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age."
Egeland said in statement that severe restrictions on aid access into the Gaza Strip have aggravated the situation, "leading to starvation among Gaza's population and intensifying an already dire humanitarian crisis."
He added that 1.9 million people, or almost the entire population, have been displaced and nearly two in three homes are damaged or destroyed.
"Tens of thousands live on the streets of southern Gaza, where, under bombardment, they are forced to improvise basic shelters from whatever they can get hold of," he said.
He stressed that those responsible "for the killings, the torture, and the atrocities" committed in Israel on October 7 must be held accountable.
"We again demand that all hostages are immediately and unconditionally released. Neither the lives of innocent children, women or men, nor the ability of aid workers to access the vulnerable, should be used as bargaining chips," Egeland said.
"The situation in Gaza is a total failure of our shared humanity. The killing must stop," Egeland said.
A child rest on a bicycle as Palestinians queue to receive clean water from a water station. Ahmed Zakot/dpa
Palestinians set up tents after fleeing the fierce battles between the Israeli army and Hamas from the city of Khan Yunis towards the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Palestinians set up tents after fleeing the fierce battles between the Israeli army and Hamas from the city of Khan Yunis towards the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
