Lynn Hastings Photo by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Today could have been a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, born from the atrocities of two world wars. Instead, human rights are assaulted in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The violations perpetrated on both populations will bring neither peace nor security to either of these nations.

In Israel, the killings, sexual violence and kidnappings by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on 7 October traumatized an entire nation. Elderly, disabled, and children have not been spared. Non-state armed actors have obligations under international law, too. Perpetrators must be held accountable. All hostages should be released unconditionally but in the interim, access should be granted so their conditions can be verified.

In Gaza, the response from Israel has been disproportionate. The air strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and UN facilities and the repeated displacement of the civilian population cannot be justified. Nor can the siege, depriving the entire Gaza population of food, water, health care and hygiene. We are now seeing reports of men and boys, from the age of 15 and older, rounded up in Gaza, stripped to their undergarments, blindfold, and taken somewhere unknown. Access to all detainees and prisoners should be granted to verify their conditions.

This crisis is not about the number of trucks going into Gaza. Israel has the obligation as the occupying power to ensure that sufficient hygiene and public health standards as well as the provision of food and medical care are available to the population under occupation. Israel must allow the humanitarian community to deliver aid safely inside and throughout Gaza.

This crisis is also not about safe zones. A unilateral declaration by an occupying power that patches of land where there is no infrastructure, food, water, health care, or hygiene are “safe zones” does not mean they are safe. This is especially true when there is no guarantee of freedom of movement nor for the humanitarian community to deliver wherever there is need.

A ceasefire – the terms of which must be consulted with humanitarians and human rights defenders – is needed.

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, unprecedented levels of Israeli state and settler violence against Palestinians, their displacement, movement restrictions, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment, have been reported in 2023 and compound the already discriminatory and coercive environment. 265 of the 464 Palestinians killed in the West Bank in 2023 were killed since 7 October; at least three killed were disabled. And at least 1,000 people have been forcibly displaced from their land citing settler violence and the inability to access their land.

Civil society organizations in Palestine and Israel who fight daily to protect human rights are needed now more than ever. Instead, they are under attack. They must be protected by all of us.

In 2023, I should not have to issue such a statement. It is as if we have learned nothing in the past 75 years.

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing under Article 99 of the United Nations Charter to bring to the attention of the Security Council a matter which, in my opinion, may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.

More than eight weeks of hostilities in Gaza and Israel have created appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

More than 1,200 people were brutally killed, including 33 children, and thousands were injured in the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on 7 October 2023, which I have repeatedly condemned.

Some 250 people were abducted, including 34 children, more than 130 of whom are still captive. They must be immediately and unconditionally released. Accounts of sexual violence during the attacks are appalling.

Civilians throughout Gaza face grave danger. Since the start of lsrael’s military operation, more than 15,000 people have reportedly been killed, over 40 per cent of whom were children. Thousands of others have been injured. More than half of all homes have been destroyed. Some 80 per cent of the population of 2.2 million has been forcibly displaced, into increasingly smaller areas. More than 1.1 million people have sought refuge in UNRWA facilities across Gaza, creating overcrowded, undignified, and unhygienic conditions. Others have nowhere to shelter and find themselves on the street. Explosive remnants of war are rendering areas uninhabitable. There is no effective protection of civilians.

The health care system in Gaza is collapsing. Hospitals have turned into battlegrounds. Only 14 hospitals out of 36 facilities are even partially functional. The two major hospitals in south Gaza are operating at three times their bed capacity and are running out of basic supplies and fuel. They are also sheltering thousands of displaced persons. Under these circumstances, more people will die untreated in the coming days and weeks.

Nowhere is safe in Gaza.

Amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible. An even worse situation could unfold, including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into neighbouring countries.

In Resolution 2712 (2023), the Security Council “calls for the scaling up of the provision of such supplies to meet the humanitarian needs of the civilian population, especially children.”

The current conditions are making it impossible for meaningful humanitarian operations to be conducted. We are, nevertheless, preparing options for monitoring the implementation of the resolution, even if we recognize that in the present circumstances, that is untenable.

While delivery of supplies through Rafah continues, quantities are insufficient and have dropped since the pause came to an end. We are simply unable to reach those in need inside Gaza. The capacity of the United Nations and its humanitarian partners has been decimated by supply shortages, lack of fuel, interrupted communications, and growing insecurity. Humanitarian personnel have joined the vast majority of Gazan civilians in evacuating to south Gaza ahead of advancing military operations. At least 130 UNRWA colleagues have been killed, many with their families.

We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system. The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost.

The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis. I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent. The civilian population must be spared from greater harm. With a humanitarian ceasefire, the means of survival can be restored, and humanitarian assistance can be delivered in a safe and timely manner across the Gaza Strip.

Please accept, Mr. President, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Antonio Guterres

Upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter through effective multilateralism:
Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine

Several heads of state, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, participated in the meeting. This was Zelenskyy’s first in-person address to the Security Council since the onset of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

The first video below shows the speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Charter is the UN’s founding document and codifies the major principles of international relations, including the sovereign equality of States and the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

This was Zelenskyy’s first in-person address to the Security Council (SC) since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He criticized the UN for failing to prevent or resolve conflicts like the one destroying his country and called for expanding the SC and reforming the right of veto granted to its five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States.

He called for Moscow to be stripped of its veto power in the Council, saying “It is impossible to stop the war because all actions are vetoed by the aggressor.” This was one of several calls at the on-going UN General Assembly to reform how the SC works.

“World leaders are seeking new platforms and alliances that could reduce the disastrous scope of problems,” Zelenskyy said, “the problems that are met here within these walls with rhetoric, rather than real solutions; with aspirations to compromise with killers, rather than to protect lives.”

The second video shows the speech by Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Minister Lavrov said his country continues to insist on all provisions of the UN Charter being respected and applied in their entirety, not selectively. “This includes the principle of the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in their domestic affairs, respect for territorial sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the right of peoples to self-determination,” he said.

The third video shows the whole meeting, which lasted over 3 hours and included speeches by UN Secretary-General and senior statesmen and women from various other countries.

For more information about the debate see the UN News item at https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1141127

President Zelenskyy’s Speech

Minister Lavrov’s Speech

The Whole Debate

The UN General Assembly is one of the main bodies of the United Nations. It is the only UN forum in which all member states receive equal representation, and as such it is the main debating chamber of the UN.

KEY EVENTS 2023

• 18-19 September – 2023 SDG Summit will mark the half-way point to the deadline set for achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Click here to see the draft Political Declaration due to be adopted at the Summit.
• 19 September – UN Global Compact Leaders Summit – business leaders, UN officials, Government leaders, SDG stakeholders and civil society will review the private sector’s contribution to advancing the SDGs. It will be broadcast live here.
• 19-26 September – General Debate, where Heads of State and Government explore solutions to the intertwined global challenges under the theme: “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all’.
• 20 September – Climate Ambition Summit, hosted by the UN Secretary-General, aims to accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities and civil society.
• 20 September – High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) organised following calls in 2022 in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, where states will meet to advance a political declaration aiming at “mobilizing political will at the national, regional and international levels for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response”.
• 20 September – High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, Chaired by the PGA, is an opportunity for states and stakeholders to announce new commitments and initiatives that could accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda.
• 21 September – High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, will serve as the foundation for executing policies and ensuring responsibility for strengthening health systems for the future, building on the 2019 Political Declaration.
• 21 September – Preparatory ministerial meeting for the Summit of the Future.
• 22 September – High-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis will focus on advancing science, finance and innovation to urgently end the global tuberculosis epidemic.
• 26 September – High-level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

You can find a comprehensive list of all the meetings taking place here.

To follow the up-to-date schedule of daily meetings, check out the UN Journal, which is updated every morning.

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