The Head Of The UN Said He Won’t Give Up Pushing For A Ceasefire In Gaza Despite A Resolution Failing
“Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it, but that does not make it less necessary,” António Guterres said. “So I can promise I will not give up,” he added.
The United Nations’ Secretary-General António Guterres has said he will not give up pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza after the US blocked a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire from passing on Friday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Doha Forum in Qatar on Sunday Dec. 10, Guterres called out the UN security council’s inaction in the face of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 and Israeli’s relentless bombardment of Gaza that followed.
He said that although the council finally took action to put forward a resolution a month later, the delay had come at a cost.
Guterres said that the situation in Gaza was fast deteriorating into “a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
Guterres said that he had urged the Security Council to avert the disaster and call for a ceasefire.
“Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it, but that does not make it less necessary,” he said.
“So I can promise I will not give up,” he added.
The Security Council vote on Friday Dec. 8 had come after the Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter in a rare move on Wednesday Dec. 6.
The article – which has only ever been invoked four times, allows the Secretary-General to call a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
13 out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council voted in favor of the draft resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while the US voted against and the UK abstained.
As the US, a permanent member of the security council, vetoed the resolution, it failed to pass.
Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, said the US “regretfully” could not support the resolution because it did not condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel and Oct. 7 and that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas.
The US has come under sharp criticism for vetoing the resolution from other countries and rights groups, who have called out its double standards in condoning the continuation in fighting while referencing the protection of women and children and human rights.
