The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, calling on the Security Council to declare a ceasefire to put a stop to Israeli atrocities committed in Gaza.
Invoking Article 99 is one of the few powers that the Charter gives the UN Secretary-General.
In a letter written to the council’s president, Guterres cites the responsibility of the 15-member Security Council that has the obligation to maintain international peace and security, stating that the situation in Gaza and Israel “may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.”
He added that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza can have “potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”
I've just invoked Art.99 of the UN Charter – for the 1st time in my tenure as Secretary-General.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 6, 2023
Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. pic.twitter.com/pA0eRXZnFJ
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric explained that the move has been taken “given the scale of the loss of human life in Gaza and Israel, in such a short amount of time.”
He described the use of Article 99 as a “dramatic constitutional move” made by Guterres in the hope that it would put more pressure on the Council – and the international community at large – to demand a ceasefire between the warring parties.
“I think it’s arguably the most important invocation”, Dujarric told reporters at UN Headquarters, “in my opinion, the most powerful tool that he [the Secretary-General] has.”
