Tag: Security Council

US vetoes UN resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire – SUCH TV

The United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favour of a brief draft resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates on Friday, while the United Kingdom abstained.

The vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the 15-member council of a global threat from the two-month-long war.

“While the US strongly supports a durable peace in which both Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire. This would only plant the seeds for the next war, because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution,” said Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN.

The US and Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly October 7 attack on Israel.

A seven-day pause – that saw Hamas release some hostages and an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza – ended on December 1.

After several failed attempts to take action, the Security Council last month called for pauses in fighting to allow aid access to Gaza, which Guterres on Friday described as a “spiralling humanitarian nightmare”.

The US favours its own diplomacy, rather than Security Council action, to win the release of more hostages and press Israel to better protect civilians in its assault on Gaza, which it launched after the Hamas attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people. Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 17,480 people have been killed in the Israeli assault.

The vote came after Guterres deployed rarely-used Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the council’s attention “any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

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December 9, 2023
UN sees North Korea rocket launches as threat to civilian planes, ships – SUCH TV

North Korea’s rocket launches are a serious risk to civil aviation and maritime traffic, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council as it met to discuss Pyongyang’s first spy satellite launch.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the November 21 launch aimed to monitor the United States and its allies. On Monday, Pyongyang said it would continue exercising its sovereign rights, including through more satellite launches.

Senior UN official Khaled Khiari told the 15-member Security Council that while Pyongyang issued a pre-launch notification to the Japanese Coast Guard, it did not notify the International Maritime Organisation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, or the International Telecommunications Union.

“The DPRK’s launches represent a serious risk to international civil aviation and maritime traffic,” Khiari said.

Formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea has been under UN sanctions for its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes since 2006. This includes a ban on the development of ballistic missiles.

Such technology was used to launch the satellite last week and follows the testing of dozens of ballistic missiles over the past 20 months. The United States has long warned that Pyongyang was ready to carry out a seventh nuclear test.

“The DPRK has made its motivations clear. The DPRK is unabashedly trying to advance its nuclear weapons delivery systems by testing ballistic missile technology in clear violation of this council’s resolutions,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council.

“This reckless unlawful behaviour threatens all of the DPRK’s neighbours and all member states. As you heard from Mr Khiari, there was no notification of this action,” she said.

Pyongyang says it is exercising its right to self-defence with its ballistic missile tests to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests from military threats.

For the past several years the UN Security Council has been divided over how to deal with Pyongyang. Russia and China, veto powers along with the US, Britain and France, have said more sanctions will not help and want such measures to be eased.

China and Russia say joint military drills by the United States and South Korea provoke Pyongyang, while Washington accuses Beijing and Moscow of emboldening North Korea by shielding it from more sanctions.

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November 28, 2023
UNSC rejection of Gaza resolution 'double oppression' against Palestinians: Iran president – SUCH TV

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a pause in Israel’s attacks and crimes against the people of Gaza is “double oppression” against the Palestinians and humanity.

The ongoing events against the oppressed people of Palestine in Gaza belie West’s claims about advocating civilization, freedom and human rights, Raeisi said on Thursday while addressing a meeting in Tehran to honor great achievements of the country’s health sector.

The president described the incidents in Gaza as heart-wrenching, which aroused anger and hatred of people across the globe towards the US and the Israeli regime.

Pointing to injustices practiced by the global arrogant system, Raeisi said the US blocked a United Nations Security Council draft resolution calling for a humanitarian pause in the crimes perpetrated against the oppressed people of Gaza who have been either forced to flee their houses or their houses have been razed to the ground as a result of Israel’s airstrikes.

The US on Wednesday vetoed the resolution that had been drafted by Brazil and had sought to broker aid access to Gaza amid the incessant Israeli airstrikes and shelling against people in the tiny strip of land.

Representatives of 12 countries in the 15-member UNSC voted in favor of the resolution while Britain and Russia abstained. A UNSC resolution needs the approval of all five veto-wielding members of the body, including the US, to pass. Besides, for the resolution to pass, no permanent member should cast a veto.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield justified her country’s veto, saying “this resolution did not mention Israel’s right of self-defense.”

The Iranian president emphasized that the US, Israel and their supporters are committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

“We believe that the blood of the oppressed Palestinian martyrs will definitely shatter the current world order and will establish a just system in the world,” Raeisi stated.

He noted that nations in the Muslim world and across the globe are currently witnessing heinous crimes by arrogant powers against the oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza.

He said nations across the globe are enraged by the current unjust world order, describing the ongoing oppression against women and children in Gaza as a testimony of it.

Nearly 3,500 people have been killed in more than 11 days of Israeli attacks on Gaza. The brutal campaign began after the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement launched attacks on Israeli settlers and military forces on October 7 to retaliate months of violence against the Palestinians and their sanctities.

The US has always been a staunch supporter of Israel. Washington has been supporting the regime by blocking international efforts to hold the regime accountable for its acts.

The UNSC resolution vetoed by the US on Wednesday had called for the cancelation of an order for civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to south of the coastal sliver in anticipation of major ground offensive by Israel.

More than a million have become homeless inside Gaza as a result of Israeli bombardment and shelling. The regime has also maintained a crippling siege on the small territory by cutting water, electricity and food supplies to more than 2.3 million people living there.

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October 19, 2023