On Thursday 7 December, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to “act immediately to prevent a full collapse of the humanitarian situation in Gaza”.
He called on EU members who are also members of the UN Security Council and like-minded partners to support UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ appeal. In a letter addressed to the current President of the UNSC, Mr Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter on Wednesday 6 December to highlight the situation in the Middle East, which “could threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”. Article 99, which he mentions for the first time, allows the UN Secretary-General to “draw the attention of the Security Council to any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
“Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared”, stressed Mr Guterres on X (formerly Twitter). In his letter, he explained that the situation was rapidly deteriorating into a catastrophe with “potentially irreversible implications” for the Palestinians and for peace and security in the region. “Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs”, he warned, saying that the international community had a responsibility to use its influence to prevent any escalation and bring the crisis to an end.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the G7 explained that “more urgent action is needed to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and minimize civilian casualties”. “We support and encourage further humanitarian pauses to enable this.”, they added.
See the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/a0e (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)