[Antonio Guterres warned of a deepening ‘catastrophe’ in Gaza
as he called on the Security Council to act.]
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UN SECRETARY-GENERAL INVOKES ARTICLE 99 ON GAZA  
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December 7, 2023
Aljazeera
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_ Antonio Guterres warned of a deepening ‘catastrophe’ in Gaza as
he called on the Security Council to act. _

UN chief invokes Article 99 on Gaza in rare move, Aljazeera

 

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked
Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act on
the war in Gaza.

The rare move on Wednesday comes as the 15-member Security Council is
yet to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel,
Hamas and their allies.

 
 

Article 99 allows the secretary-general to “bring to the attention
of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten
the maintenance of international peace and security”.

In his letter to the council’s president, Guterres invoked this
responsibility, saying he believed the situation in Israel and the
occupied Palestinian territories, “may aggravate existing threats to
the maintenance of international peace and security”.

Guterres – who has been calling for an “immediate humanitarian
ceasefire” since October 18
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also described “appalling human suffering, physical destruction and
collective trauma across Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territories”.

Article 99 is a special power – and the only independent political
tool given to the secretary-general in the UN Charter – that allows
him to call a meeting of the Security Council on his own initiative to
issue warnings about new threats to international peace and security,
and matters that are not yet on the council’s agenda.

‘We cannot wait’

In response to Guterres’s letter, Security Council member the United
Arab Emirates posted on X to say it had submitted a new draft
resolution to the council, and “called for a humanitarian ceasefire
resolution to be adopted urgently”.

It warned that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and close to
irreversible, adding: “We cannot wait.”

The UAE calls for a humanitarian ceasefire resolution to be adopted
urgently and has just submitted a draft to the UNSC.

The situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic and close to
irreversible. We cannot wait. The Council needs to act decisively to
demand a humanitarian… [link removed]

— UAE Mission to the UN (@UAEMissionToUN) December 6, 2023
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If the council does choose to act on Guterres’s advice and adopt a
ceasefire resolution, it does have additional powers
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its disposal to ensure the resolution is implemented, including the
power to impose sanctions or authorise the deployment of an
international force.

But the council’s five permanent members – China, Russia, the US,
the UK and France – hold veto power.

The US used that veto
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October 18 against a resolution that would have condemned Hamas’s
attack on Israel while calling for a pause in the fighting to allow
humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

Twelve other council members voted in favour, while Russia and the UK
abstained.

Catastrophe looms

Guterres said the Security Council’s continued lack of action and
the sharp deterioration of the situation in Gaza had compelled him to
invoke Article 99 for the first time since he took on the top job at
the UN in 2017.

He warned public order in Gaza could soon break down amid the complete
collapse of the humanitarian system.

“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,” he wrote.

“Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs.”

He warned public order in Gaza could soon break down amid the complete
collapse of the humanitarian system. “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,” he wrote. “Such an outcome must be avoided at all
costs.”

I've just invoked Art.99 of the UN Charter - for the 1st time in my
tenure as Secretary-General.

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. pic.twitter.com/pA0eRXZnFJ
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— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 6, 2023
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But Guterres’s invocation of Article 99 was not welcomed by
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan.

In a post on X, Erdan described the letter as “more proof” of
Guterres’s “moral distortion and his bias against Israel”.

“The secretary-general’s call for a ceasefire is actually a call
to keep Hamas’s reign of terror in Gaza,” said Erdan, who
also repeated his call
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Guterres to resign.

The UN Charter only provides limited powers to the UN
secretary-general, who serves as the UN’s Chief Administrative
Officer and is elected by member states.

“The fact that this tool has not been used since 1989 does resonate
diplomatically and symbolically here in New York,” Daniel Forti, a
senior analyst on UN advocacy and research at the International Crisis
Group, told Al Jazeera.

But Forti added that it will not “fundamentally change the political
calculation of the Security Council’s most powerful members”.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

When AL JAZEERA launched from the Qatari capital, Doha, on Friday,
November 1, 1996, it was the first independent news channel in the
Arab world. Media in the Arab world, till then, was characterised by
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Al Jazeera pioneered a new paradigm for in-depth journalism that was
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multiple angles to a story, informing and empowering its audiences,
championing their stories, while maintaining the spirit of
journalistic integrity.

* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Gaza
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* United Nations
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* Ceasefire
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