The UN General Assembly met on Tuesday afternoon in Emergency Special Session on the decades long Israel-Palestine conflict and as the ongoing crisis in Gaza shows no signs of abating.
Member States adopted a resolution, demanding an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and well as “ensuring humanitarian access”.
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Here’s a brief glance at the terms:
- It passed with a large majority of 153 in favour and 10 against, with 23 abstentions.
- The resolution also reiterated the General Assembly’s demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, “notably with regard to the protection of civilians”.
- Prior to the resolution, two amendments making specific reference to extremist group Hamas were voted down by members.
- The General Assembly will resume the emergency session on Friday afternoon in New York starting at 3pm
- Check out this explainer on what an emergency special session of the Assembly is and how it works.
Declaring the 10th Emergency Special Session open once more, Assembly President Dennis Francis highlighted the new request to meet once again in light of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Mr. Francis opened his statement, saying there was now “an onslaught on civilians, the breakdown of humanitarian systems and profound disrespect for international law and international humanitarian law” being shown by combatants.
Even war has rules and we must not deviate from core principles and values, he said.
Almost 70 per cent of the dead are women and children, he said.
He said the world was witnessing an “unprecedented collapse” of a humanitarian system “in real time”. The UN must bring an immediate end to the suffering of civilians, he insisted.
It is high time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, he said.
Assembly President Francis underscored the urgency to bring to an end the suffering of innocent civilians.
He reiterated the demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
“We have one singular priority – only one – to save lives,” he stressed.
“Stop this violence now”, he said.
Resolutions by the General Assembly, though not legally binding on nations, do carry immense moral weight, representing the collective resolve of the UN membership on a matter of grave importance.
These resolutions also lead to key legal frameworks and standards, such as the over 60 human rights instruments underpinning the international rights regime, which emanate from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Declaration was proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1948, and by itself is not binding.
