United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza.
Wednesday’s rare move comes as the 15-member Security Council has yet to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and their allies.
Article 99 authorizes 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 president, Guterres invoked this responsibility, saying he believed the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories “could aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.”
Guterres – who has been calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” since October 18 – 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 policy tool granted to the Secretary-General in the United Nations Charter – which allows him to convene a meeting of the Security Council on his own initiative to issue warnings about new threats to international peace and security. , and questions that are not yet on the council’s agenda.
“We can’t wait”
In response to Guterres’ letter, the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Security Council, posted on X to state that it had submitted a new draft resolution to the council and “called for the urgent adoption of a resolution humanitarian ceasefire”.
He warned that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic and almost irreversible, adding: “We cannot wait.”
The United Arab Emirates is calling for the urgent adoption of a humanitarian ceasefire resolution and has just submitted a draft to the UN Security Council.
The situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic and almost irreversible. We can’t wait. The Council must act decisively to demand humanitarian aid…
– UAE Mission to the UN (@UAEMissionToUN) December 6, 2023
If the Council chooses to follow Guterres’ advice and adopt a ceasefire resolution, it will have additional powers to ensure the resolution is implemented, including the power to impose sanctions or authorize the deployment of an international force.
But the five permanent members of the Council – China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and France – have veto power.
The United States used its veto on October 18 against a resolution that would have condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel while calling for a pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Twelve other Council members voted in favor, while Russia and the United Kingdom abstained.
An impending disaster
Guterres said continued inaction by the Security Council and the sharp deterioration of the situation in Gaza had forced him to invoke Article 99 for the first time since he took over as UN head in 2017.
He warned that law and order in Gaza could soon be broken due to the complete collapse of the humanitarian system.
“The situation is rapidly deteriorating and turning into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for the Palestinians as a whole as well as for peace and security in the region,” he wrote.
“Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs. »
I have just invoked Article 99 of the United Nations Charter – for the first time since my tenure as Secretary-General.
Faced with the serious risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and to call for a humanitarian ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/pA0eRXZnFJ
– António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 6, 2023
But Guterres’ invocation of Article 99 did not go down well with Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan.
In an article on X, Erdan described the letter as “further proof” of Guterres’ “moral distortion and bias against Israel.”
“The secretary-general’s call for a ceasefire is in reality a call to maintain Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza,” said Erdan, who also reiterated his call for Guterres to resign.
The UN Charter grants only limited powers to the UN Secretary-General, who serves as the administrative director of the UN and is elected by member states.
“The fact that this tool has not been used since 1989 has diplomatic and symbolic resonance here in New York,” Daniel Forti, the UN’s senior international advocacy and research analyst, told Tel Aviv Tribune. Crisis Group.
But Forti added that this will not “fundamentally change the political calculus of the most powerful members of the Security Council.”