The UN General Assembly “Uniting for Peace” Resolution Has Been Invoked

PATRICIA HARRITY for THE EXPOSE

Egypt & Mauritania have invoked United Nations General Assembly Resolution 377 (UNGA Res 377), the “Uniting for Peace” resolution to address the attacks in Gaza.

Resolution 377 states that if the UN Security Council, due to lack of unanimity of the permanent 5 members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility to act to maintain international peace & security, the General Assembly can promptly address the issue. The emergency session is set for Tuesday the 12^th December.

The UN General Assembly President received a letter on Friday night from H.E. Osama Abdel Khalek. Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN in New York. and The Permanent Mission of Mauritania to the United Nations-New York (Arab Group/OIC) requesting resumption after the U.S. Mission to the UN vetoed the Gaza ceasefire draft resolution on Nov 15.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) by a vote of 12-0 passed a binding resolution for extended humanitarian pauses, Israel immediately condemned it and declared it was not going to abide, and since, no actions have been taken to compel Israel to abide, just like no actions have been taken to compel Israel to abide by the many UNSC resolutions that it stands in violation of.

The Palestine UN Ambassador Mansour had said following the veto that his mission would “continue resorting to every legitimate avenue to stop these abhorrent atrocities, including resuming ESS.” The aim is to adopt same draft resolution which was vetoed, with some adjustments and updates.

Letters to and From the President of the General Assembly

United Nations Resolution 377

UNGA Resolution 377 was initially introduced on 3^rd of November 1950, when it was adopted by the General Assembly and given the title “Uniting for Peace”. It came as a response to the strategy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to block any determination by the Security Council on measures to be taken in order to protect the Republic of Korea against the aggression launched against it by military forces from North Korea. Source

At the initial stage of this armed conflict, in June 1950, the Security Council had been able to recommend to the Members of the United Nations to “furnish such assistance to the Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area” (resolution 83 (1950) of 27 June 1950). Source

The US can vote against this resolution, but cannot veto it as no country has veto power in the General Assembly.

The General Assembly

The main objective that the UN is to have at its forefront, is that of maintaining international peace and security and this task has been entrusted to the Security Council, granting them binding powers that enable quick and effective action in the event of threats to international peace and security.

The lack of consensus among the permanent members of the Security Council, who are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, paralyses the zed [sic] from exercising its authority due to the wasteful use of the veto to stop any draft resolution that the veto holder deems incompatible with his policy.

The Council failed to do its job in many different circumstances despite the consent of the majority of its members.

The powers of the General Assembly, as one of the pillars of the collective security system of the world, are the same as those of the Security Council, and therefore can take procedural decisions away from making usual recommendations or international studies for discussion, without the Charter of the United Nations conferring on it the necessary authority to impose these recommendations. Importantly, this principle gives the countries that do not have a “veto” in the Security Council the opportunity to obtain decisions from the General Assembly of a mandatory nature, with a legal value based on Article No. 24 of the Charter, which stipulates in its first paragraph that the action The United Nations is doing must be “prompt and effective.” Source

Gaza Death Toll

A ceasefire needs to be “prompt and effective, as the death toll in Gaza so far on day 66 is 24,142 including 9,420 children, 4,910 women, and 48,901 injured. According to statistics @EuroMedHR. -The number killed in the attacks include those presumed dead, under the rubble. More than 92% of the dead are civilians. The UN has reported that half of the people in are now starving- more than a million children, women & men & 90% do not have daily food.

Clearly the UNGA were not “prompt and effective” enough. The barbaric atrocities occurring in Gaza should never have been allowed to continue for so long by so-called civil society, hopefully we will see an end to them, following the uniting for peace resolution.

************

Source

Featured image source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/11/whats-un-resolution-377a-can-it-help-in-efforts-to-stop-israel-gaza-war