UN Secretary-General calls for Security Council reform due to impasse on Russia and Hamas
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressed regret over the UN Security Council's failure to adequately respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas-Israel conflict in the Gaza Strip, saying the conflicts had "perhaps fatally" undermined its authority, according to Reuters.
Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Guterres stated that the UN Security Council often finds itself in a deadlock and "unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time".
"The Council's lack of unity on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel's military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely – perhaps fatally – undermined its authority," he said.
Guterres stated that the Security Council "needs serious reform to its composition and working methods."
The United States last week again vetoed a draft resolution of the UN Security Council, which blocked the demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire during Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip. This was the third US veto of a resolution since the beginning of the current hostilities on October 7.
Guterres, who called Rafah as the core of the humanitarian aid operation in the Palestinian enclave, said that a full-scale Israeli assault would have devastating consequences.
"An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes," said the UN Secretary-General.
