Middle East

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks at the Security Council open briefing on the Middle East, in New York today:

Members of the Palestinian Rights Committee described their work today as all the more urgent in light of the new Middle East peace plan unveiled by the United States, which deviates from the long-held international consensus on the question of Palestine.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the opening of the 2020 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

The senior United Nations humanitarian official deplored spiking violence and dire humanitarian conditions in north-western Syria today, while warning of a possible drop in available medical supplies.

The building of trust and confidence is a key component of a successful political process to bring about peace and stability in Syria, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Envoy for the country told the Security Council today, cautioning that increasing violence in the north-west threatened to stall negotiations before they had properly begun.

Speakers in the Security Council today roundly denounced unilateral moves by Israel to legitimize its presence on occupied Arab lands, with several rejecting such actions — and United States recognition of them — as a blatant trampling of sovereignty and glaring violation of international law.

Negative trends continue to undermine prospects for a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs told the Security Council today, citing a deadlocked political process, illegal settlement expansion and a pervasive hopelessness among young people that peace will ever be achieved.

Today, the World Food Programme unveiled the “HungerMap LIVE”, a new tool that monitors food security in more than 90 countries and issues predictions for areas from which data is limited.  The HungerMap presents data collected on a continuous basis, as well as metrics on conflict, climate shocks, population and weather.

Expressing concern that ongoing military activities have the potential to escalate tensions between Israel and Syria, the Security Council today decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months.

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) prequalified its first biosimilar medicine, Trastuzumab, that could broaden access to this life-saving breast cancer treatment.  In 2018, 2.1 million women contracted breast cancer, and 630,000 of them died from it, many due to the lack of access to affordable treatment.