UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis lamented the killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, saying the avoidable scenario within the Palestinian enclave ought to be introduced to carry.
“Enough is enough,” Francis mentioned in an interview with Anadolu. “Too many civilians have already lost their lives in Gaza. Too many women, too many children, in what was, without a doubt, an avoidable situation, it’s time to bring this to a halt.”
The president, whose one-year time period will finish this September, mentioned it’s time for Hamas to launch all hostages and it’s time for Gazans to get humanitarian help and help in order that they will start to rebuild their lives.
“The cease-fire is important, among other things, because hopefully, it will, in some way, engender a political process that could and should result in the adoption of a two-state solution,” he mentioned. “This cycle of bloodletting, mayhem, destruction is not sustainable.”
He cautioned that the violence in Gaza will carry “more hate, more destruction, more pain, more suffering, more psychological dislocation.”
“It it has to stop,” mentioned Francis, calling for efforts to carry peace.
– ‘TOTAL CONFLAGRATION IN MIDDLE EAST’
Regarding the escalating stress between Israel and Lebanon, Francis mentioned the longer hostility persists, the larger the chance that it’ll spill over and create new dynamics.
“That is why it needs to be brought under control because the last thing we want is a total conflagration in the Middle East. It will serve no one’s interests, no one,” mentioned the General Assembly president.
“And so my hope is that all of the key players working in conjunction with their allies would do their endeavor best to avoid such a spillover because I do not believe that we would be able to sustain it,” Francis mentioned.
– UN’S FAILURE ON GAZA RESOLUTIONS
When requested concerning the percieved failure of the UN to halt the battle in Gaza, Francis mentioned there was a failure, however added that the failure has not been that of the UN or the General Assembly.
He recalled that the General Assembly was the primary UN organ to go a powerful, decisive decision on Gaza, in October of 2023, which known as for a full cease-fire in Gaza in addition to the discharge of hostages and entry to humanitarian help.
“Now we have had to make these calls repeatedly because the war continued to be prosecuted. That’s a decision made by the warring parties. So, to the extent that there has been a failure, there’s been a failure to follow the edicts of the General Assembly, the 193 states that make up the General Assembly, and there has been a failure to some degree on the part of the Security Council to pass an early, strong, decisive resolution on Gaza,” mentioned the president.
“The failure does not belong to the UN, as frustrating as it has been for the UN, because the UN’s brand is always peace,” he added.
– UN SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM
About reform on the UN Security Council, which has been repeatedly raised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose motto is “the World is Bigger than Five,” Francis mentioned there’s a want for reform on the council.
“We need a reform that would position the Security Council to take the decisions that it’s empowered to take, and to take those decisions in the best interest of the world community at large, not in the interest, in the narrow interest of any individual state or group of states,” Francis instructed Anadolu.
“That is the purpose of the Security Council to make an assessment of the threats to international peace and security and to act to preserve and protect the peace and security of the planet. It was never the intention that the Security Council or members thereof would act in their own narrow sectarian interests,” he mentioned.
“We want a Security Council that’s agile, purposeful, daring, and that takes to coronary heart the execution of its mandate beneath the constitution. We don’t, in the intervening time, have that within the Security Council.
“Perhaps in the future, hopefully, because there is a process of Security Council reform that is ongoing and which, of course, we fully support in the General Assembly. But for the moment, the fact that we are here discussing the issue of Gaza demonstrates that the Security Council had been operating at what can only be regarded as a suboptimal level, and, therefore, failing to properly discharge its mandate,” he mentioned.
– VETO RIGHTS OF SECURITY COUNCIL’S PERMANENT MEMBERS
Regarding the steps that the UN General Assembly may take to stop everlasting members of the UN Security Council from exploiting their veto rights, Francis mentioned that the system, as it’s structured, depends on a powerful Security Council and a powerful General Assembly.
He mentioned that when the Security Council is confronted with conditions threatening peace and safety and finds itself paralyzed, unable to behave decisively within the wake of maximum behaviors, wanton demise, and destruction, the General Assembly, inside its powers, steps as much as the plate and takes sure choices.
Recalling that the General Assembly brings in an obligation to any everlasting member who used its veto proper to clarify its rationale, Francis mentioned: “Now this is a transparency mechanism and an accountability mechanism.”
“And I think the initial impetus for it had to do with the hope that by subjecting members of the council who wield the veto to scrutiny, they would be forced to think twice about using it, as a deterrent mechanism,” he added.
Source: www.anews.com.tr