UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Antonio Guterres has invoked a rarely-used article in the United Nations Charter to appeal to the Security Council for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and to avert a “humanitarian catastrophe”, which he said had “potentially irreversible implications” for Palestinians and peace in the region.
Secretary-General Guterres issued a letter on Wednesday to the President of the Security Council for December, Ambassador Jose Javier De La Gasca Lopez Dominguez, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the UN, writing under Article 99 of the UN Charter.
Article 99 was last specifically mentioned in a report on December 3, 1971 by then Secretary-General U Thant on the situation in East Pakistan now Bangladesh. India had emerged victorious against Pakistan in the 1971 war, which led to the creation of Bangladesh.
This is the first time that Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the Charter since he became UN Secretary-General in 2017. Article 99 states that “the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
In the letter, Guterres said that more than eight weeks of hostilities in Gaza and Israel have created “appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Guterres urged members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared.
Meanwhile, in a scathing criticism of Guterres, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said his tenure was a danger to world peace. Israel said Guterres’ move was akin to support for the Hamas terror group and an endorsement of the dastardly acts carried by it in Israel on October 7.
“Anyone who supports world peace must support the liberation of Gaza from Hamas”, he emphasised. Israel’s ground offensive has sent tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing to the territory’s southernmost edge and prevented aid groups from delivering food, water and other supplies.