Welcome to This Week @UN: A top humanitarian’s goodbye to Gaza; Serbia’s hushing a genocide commemoration; the Pact for the Future. Plus: Sudan; Libya; Afghanistan; Iran; Palestine.
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Our top story this week: Serbia Is Resisting a UN Resolution to Mark the Srebrenica GenocideÂ
This month: Which Woman Should Be the Next UN Secretary-General? Our Survey Results
From Passblue this week:
‘The Place Is Completely Shattered’: A UN Do-Gooder’s Farewell to Gaza, Q/A by Damilola Banjo
Serbia Is Resisting a UN General Assembly Plan to Mark the Srebrenica Genocide, exclusive by Dulcie Leimbach
The UN Pact for the Future Needs Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue, op-ed by Minh-Thu Pham
What’s up with Malta? Our latest podcast episode features an interview with Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, who’s in charge of the Security Council in April: no walk in the park.
Top UN news:
Sunday, April 14
• The Security Council held an emergency session on Iran’s missile and drone bombardments on Israel on April 13, in reaction to Israel’s deadly attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria. In the meeting, Secretary-General António Guterres “strongly condemned” the Iranian assault, saying: “It’s time to step back from the brink. It is vital to avoid any action that could lead to major military confrontations on multiple fronts in the Middle East.” He noted that Israel, which requested the meeting, described Iran’s “direct attack” as a “clear violation of the UN Charter and international law.” Guterres said that Iran described its action as taken “in the exercise of Iran’s inherent right to self-defence as outlined in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and in response to the Israeli recurring military aggressions, particularly its armed attack on 1 April 2024 against Iranian diplomatic premises.” No statement ensued from the Council’s meeting.
Monday, April 15
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Instead of the regular schedule, Guterres held a media stakeout on the civil war in Sudan, which hit the one-year mark this week. On the “heartbreaking milestone,” Guterres called the conflict a war “on the Sudanese people,” noting that thousands of civilians have died, 18 million people face “acute hunger” and eight million have fled their homes. The “only path out of this horror is a political solution,” Guterres said, paired with “[coordinated] international efforts.” His personal envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, has “scaled-up mediation efforts” by meeting with the warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, and leaders of neighboring countries, while collaborating with the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States and “key member states” — presumably, the new United States envoy, Tom Perriello.
Tuesday, April 16
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Abdoulaye Bathily, the UN special representative for Libya and head of the political mission, suddenly announced his resignation to reporters at the UN after updating the Security Council on his work. He said his efforts at a “dialogue to resolve all contested issues pertaining to the electoral laws and the formation of a unified government” were stifled by the “selfish resolve of current leaders to maintain the status quo through delaying tactics and [maneuvers] at the expense of the Libyan people.” Bathily, a former Senegalese politician, said that throughout the country, “good, willing Libyans express their impatience to break the current stalemate and save their country from the dynamics of chaos and failure.” Bathily is the eighth person to hold this post since the UN mission opened in 2011, after the country’s civil war was ended by NATO bombing and the killing of the Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Bathily leaves on May 15.
• Guterres congratulated Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria for being reappointed as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Wednesday, April 17
• Spokesperson’s briefing: A UN Development Program (UNDP) report found that women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan face “[deepened] discrimination, operational constraints” and “a severely weakened financial system,” forcing 41 percent of the women surveyed into debt and allowing only five percent to receive loans. Despite severe movement restrictions — 73 percent say a family member must escort them to most places — the report noted that attesting to their resilience, “women are finding ways to tackle the challenges and 80 per cent of women-led enterprises rely on their business revenues as their primary source of income.”
• Just days before an independent final review assessing the neutrality and management of the UN Relief and Works agency (UNRWA) is to be released, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the agency, told the Security Council that though UNRWA’s mandate is supported by most countries, it is “under enormous strain.” Israel, he said, “seeks to end UNRWA’s activities” in Gaza. The review was commissioned by Guterres to evaluate the agency’s operations after Israel accused UNRWA staffers of taking part in the Oct. 7 death spree (they were immediately fired) and after 16 countries immediately withdrew their funding of the agency. Many have since reinstated their contributions, but the US is unable to because of new Congressional restrictions against such funding. Yet the American envoy, Robert Wood, told the Council that UNRWA remains “indispensable” in Gaza.
A separate internal investigation by the UN into the allegations has been underway for months, but the results will not be made public. (Israel accuses 15 UNRWA personnel of participating in the attack; 2 are dead and 1 has been cleared so far by the UN probe, a source familiar with the case told PassBlue.)
Thursday, April 18
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The Security Council’s daylong ministerial session on the Mideast/Palestine question culminated in a vote on a draft resolution recommending Palestine’s full membership to the UN, a renewed bid from 2011. The vote on Thursday failed, thanks to a US veto, but 13 members voted yes and two abstained (Britain and Switzerland), reflecting majority support to Palestine’s quest to move from being a nonmember observer state to becoming the UN’s 194th member. The draft resolution, submitted by Algeria, was brief: “The Security Council, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations (S/2011/592), recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
Highlights of speeches:
Palestine: “Admitting the State of Palestine to the UN would lift a portion of the historical injustice that successive generations of the Palestinian people have suffered and continue to suffer. In this context, we have the right to ask: How would admitting Palestine to UN, on par with the rest of the world’s countries, harm the prospects for peace between the Palestinians and Israelis? And how would this membership harm international security and peace? This question is specifically directed at the United States and other countries that oppose admitting the State of Palestine to UN.”
US: “It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners. We believe this approach can tangibly advance Palestinian goals in a meaningful and enduring way.”
Algeria: “Admit Palestine as a first fundamental step toward peace. This membership will definitely consecrate the two-state solution that the occupying authorities continue to stand openly against. This membership will constitute a rejection of their attempt to erase the Palestinian people and to destroy the Palestinian state and every prospect of peace. Let us welcome Palestine to the UN.”
France: “It is time to achieve a global political settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the basis of the two-state solution, the only option that can respond to the long-term security needs of Israel, as well as the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for a state. As the President of the Republic recalled, France is not shying away from this issue.”
Japan: “At this critical moment, Japan voted in favor of today’s draft resolution as a comprehensive decision, recognizing that Palestine meets the criteria for admission to the United Nations membership, while also taking into account the perspective of promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state through peaceful negotiations between the parties concerned.”
Guyana: “We must end this injustice and deliver on the decades-old commitment made by the international community, by this Council and the General Assembly, for the creation of a free and independent State of Palestine.”
Sierra Leone: “State of Palestine membership at the United Nations may have been delayed, as often in regrettable periods of injustices, but as the arc of the moral universe which may be long but bends towards justice, the United Nations membership for the State of Palestine cannot be denied.”
Switzerland: “The Federal Council considers that such a step should take place at a time when it could fit in with the logic of an emerging peace.”
Friday, April 19
• Spokesperson’s briefing: At the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, in Geneva, the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), Volker Turk, urged “stronger action against racial discrimination and other terrible legacies of enslavement and colonial oppression” and supported the proclamation of a second International Decade for People of African Descent to “build on the gains made so far, and address the many ongoing challenges.” Turk called these actions crucial to the OHCHR’s agenda toward transformative change for racial justice and equality, in its call on countries “to deliver reparatory justice.”
Arthur Bassas is a researcher and writer who graduated from St. Andrews in Scotland, majoring in international relations and terrorism. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and speaks English and French.
