The Secretary-General of the United Nations invoked Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, urging member states of the Security Council to apply pressure for a ceasefire, citing concerns about an escalation of war due to the conflict surrounding the Gaza Strip.
According to Reuters and The Hill, UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote in a letter on the 6th (local time) that the war between Israel and Palestine over the Gaza Strip could “exacerbate the threat to international peace and security,” and urged the Chairman of the Security Council to uphold the UN Charter. A letter invoking Article 99 was delivered.
Article 99 of the UN Charter contains the UN Secretary-General’s powers regarding conciliation and arbitration to prevent conflict, and states that the Secretary-General “may call the attention of the Security Council to any matter which he considers to threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.” This is the main content. In other words, you can present your opinion on related agendas.
In the letter, Secretary-General Guterres said: “Deliveries of supplies through the Rafah checkpoint continue, but support has been insufficient and declining since the end of the temporary halt in fighting. “The humanitarian system faces a serious risk of collapse,” he said, urging renewed pressure for a humanitarian ceasefire.
This is the first time Secretary-General Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter since he began his term in 2017.
Regarding Guterres’s invocation of Article 99 of the Charter, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, “Considering the scale of human casualties in Gaza and Israel in a short period of time, the Secretary-General used the most powerful tool at his disposal.”
Meanwhile, following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, the Security Council failed to pass resolutions four times and passed one resolution calling for an ‘urgent humanitarian temporary suspension’ in the middle of last month.
Source: Donga
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