Antonio Guterres warned of a worsening “catastrophe” in Gaza and called on the Security Council to act.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter and called on the UN Security Council to take action against the war in Gaza.
The secretary general’s rare move comes as the Security Council has yet to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and their allies.
The 15-member Security Council is considered the most powerful body in the United Nations and is tasked with maintaining international peace and security.
In his letter to the council president, Guterres invoked that responsibility and said he believed the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories “could exacerbate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.”
Guterres – who has called 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.”
In response to Guterres’ letter, the UAE Security Council member said on
The UAE 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 call for humanitarian assistance… https://t.co/mDr4c2F2FP
— UAE Mission to the United Nations (@UAEMissionToUN) December 6, 2023
Should the Council decide to follow Guterres’ advice and adopt a ceasefire resolution, it will have additional powers to ensure that the resolution is implemented, including the power to impose sanctions or authorize the deployment of an international force.
But the council’s five permanent members – China, Russia, the US, the UK and France – have veto power.
The United States used this veto on October 18 against a resolution that would have condemned Hamas’s 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 Britain abstained.
A catastrophe is imminent
Guterres said the Security Council’s continued inaction and the sharp deterioration of the situation in Gaza had forced him to invoke Article 99 for the first time since taking office at the United Nations in 2017.
He warned that public order in Gaza could soon collapse given the total collapse of the humanitarian system.
“The situation is rapidly deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible consequences for the Palestinians as a whole and 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 UN Charter – for the first time in my term as Secretary General.
Given the grave risk of a collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I call on the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe and call for a humanitarian ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/pA0eRXZnFJ
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 6, 2023
But Guterres’ invocation of Article 99 was not welcomed by Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan.
In a post on X, Erdan described the letter as “further evidence” of Guterres’ “moral distortion and bias against Israel.”
“The secretary general’s call for a ceasefire is actually a call to maintain Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza,” said Erdan, who also reiterated his call for Guterres’ resignation.
The UN Charter grants limited powers to the UN Secretary-General, who serves as the UN’s chief administrative officer and is elected by member states.
Article 99 of the UN Charter gives the Secretary-General the power to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.”
“The fact that this tool has not been used since 1989 has diplomatic and symbolic resonance here in New York,” Daniel Forti, senior analyst for UN advocacy and research at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera.
But Forti added that it would not “fundamentally change the political calculus of the Security Council’s most powerful members.”