United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Security Council is an “outdated,” “unfair” and “ineffective” system whose failure to end Israel’s war on Gaza has damaged the credibility of the organization as a whole.
In an exclusive interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic, the UN chief denounced the failures of the Council, created in the aftermath of World War II to ensure international peace and security, but whose veto power of permanent members has consistently proven to be an obstacle to this objective.
The Council, Guterres said, “does not fit today’s world.”
“The truth is that the Security Council has consistently failed to end the most dramatic conflicts we face today: Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine.”
“A severe handicap”
Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who has led the UN since 2017, stressed that the organization’s other bodies, and in particular its humanitarian agencies, have continued to provide essential services to Palestinians throughout Israel’s more than 11-month-old offensive on Gaza. He noted, however, that the Council’s political failure to end the conflict has been detrimental to other UN bodies.
“The UN is not the Security Council,” Mr. Guterres said. But he acknowledged that UN staff on the ground – and particularly those at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza – “suffer from the fact that people look at them and think, ‘But the Security Council has failed us.’”
“For us, this failure of the Security Council constitutes a severe handicap for our work on the ground,” he added.
“UNRWA remains the backbone”
Guterres praised the 200 UNRWA staff killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the start of the war and noted that a recent investigation showed the agency’s efforts were recognized by the Palestinians it reaches. He also expressed relief that the agency’s credibility appeared to have been restored after it came under attack earlier this year, when Israel accused its staff of links to “terrorism,” leading several countries to suspend its funding.
“Many countries that initially hesitated and suspended their support for UNRWA have taken up the torch and helped it carry out its mission,” he said. “UNRWA remains the backbone of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.”
He nevertheless condemned the constant challenges that Israel continues to pose to this work.
“When the conditions are right for them to work, as in the case of polio, they are immediately very effective,” Guterres said. “If the same conditions were right for our support for all other aspects of humanitarian action, if we did not have the obstacles, the harassment, the problems, the difficulties that Israel has systematically created for the actions of UN humanitarian agencies, particularly UNRWA, we would be able to do much more. And people need much more.”
“No responsibility”
In the interview, Guterres also accused the world’s “great powers” of encouraging the culture of impunity that reigns in Gaza.
While expressing confidence in the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, Guterres said: “We live in an environment of total impunity.”
“Everyone does what they want,” he added. “The geopolitical divide that exists between the great powers has created a situation in which any country or any movement, anywhere in the world, feels that they can do whatever they want because there will be no sanctions, there will be no accountability.”
He also said the United States should put more pressure on Israel to end its attack on Gaza.
“It is important to put pressure on the United States to ensure that they put pressure on Israel – as they support Israel – to stop the war and at the same time to recognize that the two-state solution must not be compromised.”
“We have asked the United States to be much stronger towards Israel,” he added.
“The occupation is not legal”
Guterres also spoke about the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
“We must absolutely reject any possible annexation of the West Bank,” he said. “The West Bank, together with Gaza and East Jerusalem, which is part of the West Bank, must become the State of Palestine in the future.”
“One of the most worrying things we see right now is the systematic policy of many in the Israeli government who are trying to undermine the two-state solution, precisely through expulsions, settlements, land grabs and other actions in the West Bank, which are, of course, completely contrary to international law,” he added.
“There is an opinion from the International Court of Justice. This opinion is clear: this is an occupation and this occupation is not legal.”
