As the horrific conditions in Gaza have worsened beyond imagination, the world has increasingly asked the question of why the United Nations—the key institution tasked with maintaining peace and ensuring genocide is “Never Again” allowed to occur—remains silent? Despite overwhelming support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, including a ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel must cease its actions which are plausibly committing a genocide, a small group of nations, led by the United States and United Kingdom, have provided cover for Israel to continue. Rather than being an enforcer of peace, the United Nations Security Council has become a roadblock to peace.
An international coalition led by World Beyond War, RootsAction, and others, launched a campaign on July 15 to force action at the UN. They have called for the implementation of UN Resolution 377, titled “Uniting for Peace,” was adopted November 3, 1950, empowering the General Assembly to override the United Nations Security Council under conditions in which the world deems immediate action to be essential, in order to preserve the international peace and world security. The United Nations General Assembly specifies that “Under the resolution 377A(V), ‘Uniting for peace,’ adopted by the General Assembly on 3 November 1950, an ‘emergency special session’ can be convened within 24 hours:
“Resolves that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security….”
World Beyond War reports in an update published on August 2, that the mobilization to initiate Resolution 377 has already resulted in at least 200,000 emails sent to various governments around the world, and is gearing up for a week of action at the UN’s headquarters in New York to begin on August 10. They emphasize that “the General Assembly should NOT escalate the war or deploy armed troops” (emphasis in original). Rather, the UN should convene an emergency session and use “Uniting For Peace” to “impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on the Israeli government, suspend the Israeli government from the United Nations, and send to Palestine unarmed peacekeepers (who have repeatedly shown their superiority to armed peacekeepers).”
Given the urgency of the situation and the importance of the coalition’s call, EIR is including a substantial excerpt of their original July 15 statement:
“The world has watched in horror as Israel has unleashed its ferocious and unlawful assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, with a declared intent, from the very beginning, to stop food, electricity, water, and other basic goods from entering this occupied territory.
