Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on protection of civilians in armed conflict (food security risks in Gaza)
Mme.President,
We thank the delegation of Algeria, Guyana, Slovenia, and Switzerland for convening this meeting. We thank the representatives of OCHA, WFP, and FAO for frank assessments of the catastrophic situation of food insecurity in Gaza.
We have carefully studied OCHA’s White Note prepared under resolution 2417. We believe it has come too late. The alarming forecast for Gaza were first made back in December last year in the special brief by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). According to the assessments that we heard again today, risks of a full-scale hunger grow daily.
Usually, publication of such documents draws a “red line”. By crossing it in the context of Gaza without an effective response, members of the Security Council would share full responsibility for Israel's use of hunger as a method of warfare.
The data presented in the OCHA report are terrifying. There is no other way to describe the tragic statistic that of the 2.2 million severely malnourished Gazans, nearly 600,000 - one in four - are a step away from starving to death. This is the largest proportion of people facing high levels of malnutrition ever recorded in the world. It is hard to realize that this is happening not in the Middle Ages, but in 2024, right before our eyes.
Gaza is exposed to water shortages. Children receive only 1.5 – 2 liters of water per day, which is far less than required. In addition to hunger, UNICEF estimates that at least 90% of children under the age of five in Gaza suffer from one or more than two diseases. As we take it from the White Note, malnutrition puts an entire generation of young Gazans at risk of irreparable damage to physical and mental development. That is, in effect, a death blow to Gaza's future. But do our Western colleagues care about the fate of Palestinian children? It is hard to escape this question if we recall the insinuations that the West is spreading about Ukrainian children, whom Russia is actually rescuing, and the numerous propaganda events that Western delegations holds on this subject. I would like to ask my Western colleagues if they have hosted a single event dedicated to the children of Gaza, who, according to the conclusions of UN agencies, are actually doomed? Or do you not care about them, since they will not give you “propaganda points" in your attempts to smear Russia?
Mme.President,
Colleagues,
Everybody knows that there is no problem with aid to the Gazans as such. Members of the Security Council were able to see that for themselves when they visited the Gaza border last year. Truckloads of aid are ready to leave promptly for Rafah. But Israel's heavy-handed measures have resulted in just the opposite. Because of bureaucratic obstacles and outright denials of access, aid arrives in minimal quantities only to the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Humanitarians have refused to deliver aid, including food supplies, to the north because of the lack of security. We can only guess under what appalling conditions people who remain there have to live.
In this context, there is no talking about any potential for local agriculture. There are no conditions for it due to mine contamination, environmental pollution of the already modest agricultural lands, which there is no water to irrigate. All this leaves no hope that Gazans may be self-sufficient in terms of food and nutrition.
Let us recall the hopes that were pinned on the adoption of Security Council resolution 2720, which we were told was designed to fundamentally change the situation with regard to humanitarian supplies. To that end, the Secretary-General was instructed to appoint a senior humanitarian coordinator, a position which was assumed by Sigrid Kaag. However, the weak and ambiguous language on hostilities, inserted into the text of the resolution to suit Washington's position, has only exacerbated the situation. We warned the Council about this.
The only, vital imperative to prevent mass starvation in Gaza is an urgent ceasefire and compliance with international humanitarian law on the part of Israel. Both the UN Secretary-General and OCHA senior officials have voiced this call repeatedly.
However, all attempts by the Council to adopt such a decision have been blocked by the US, who used veto against UNSC decisions four times. Against the backdrop of tens of thousands people who were killed or made to starve in Gaza, the US delegation continues to cynically argue that a ceasefire is almost dangerous because it might undermine some sensitive American diplomacy on the ground. By blocking international efforts to end the violence in Gaza, Washington bears full responsibility for the unprecedented number of civilian casualties in this escalation, which has already approached 30,000. That is the price of American vetoes on Gaza.
The "alternative" US-proposed draft resolution on the situation in Gaza, which my American colleague has been actively promoting again today, does not contain a call for a ceasefire and is aimed at extending the “UN umbrella” to the Israeli operation in the enclave. This is not an alternative at all, but yet another "license to kill" Palestinian civilians, which the United States intends to issue to Israel under UNSC authority. We urge Security Council members not to support this destructive endeavor.
Colleagues, the White Note issued by UN OCHA pursuant to Security Council resolution 2417 leaves the UN Security Council with no option but to continue to seek a ceasefire to create the necessary conditions for the work of humanitarian and medical personnel. And we intend to do so. This is important first and foremost for the establishment of safe, uninterrupted humanitarian corridors, which WHO repeatedly talked about. Apart from delivering aid through them, it is necessary to organize the evacuation of people with serious medical conditions who, in the absence of medical aid, will die in Gaza.
Besides, we must bear in mind that under UNSC resolution 2417, the Council can impose sanctions on those who prevent humanitarian access. We believe it is high time we invoked this provision.
«ОР9. Recalls that the Council has adopted and can consider to adopt sanction measures, where appropriate and in line with existing practice, that can be applied to individuals or entities obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance, or access to, or distribution of, humanitarian assistance».
Mme.President,
In conclusion, I cannot fail to draw attention to the absence of other Western delegations, in particular the United States and its closest satellites, from the list of Security Council members that requested this meeting. During their Presidency last August, they devoted a flagship event to the topic of food security. However, all that Washington was really interested in at that time was trying to "prick" Russia by spreading absurd myths about our alleged responsibility for problems with food supplies that the international community was facing. Our Western colleagues even came up with the term "using hunger as a weapon" which they repeated diligently. Please note that neither the United States nor the United Kingdom used that term today with regard to Israel's actions in Gaza. That speaks eloquently for itself.
Another telling thing is the absence of Western delegations under Rule 37 at this briefing. Where are all those European ministers who besieged the Security Council chamber last week, making their way to the "ritual" meeting on the Ukrainian crisis? Is hunger in Gaza a much less important topic for the EU, which fancies itself the world's foremost humanist and champion of human rights? Or are Gazans, like Syrians, Afghans and Yemenis, "second-class" people whose lives are of no concern to the inhabitants of the "beautiful European garden"?
Apparently so. What is also shocking is the readiness with which a number of Western donors suspended funding for UNRWA (even before the inquiry was complete) in the midst of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, putting the Agency's activities on the verge of a collapse. That step can hardly be seen as anything other than blatant and immoral blackmail and politicization of humanitarian issues by donors. We trust that the Security Council will have an opportunity to discuss this issue separately in the coming days.
Thank you.
Right of reply:
Mme.President,
Let me respond to my American colleague. You should be ashamed of comparing the situations in Ukraine and in Gaza. They cannot be compared. First, contrary to what you were saying, Russia does not use barbaric bombings against Ukrainian civilians. Those are impossible to compare. Secondly, who is it lecturing us? The country that ruined Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yugoslavia, having launched devastating blanket bombings. Next time, before you spot a speck in someone else’s eye, please bother to look at the beam in your own.
Thank you.
Second reply:
Mme.President,
I suggest that we not turn the Council into a duel between the United States and the Russian Federation. We have spoken many times and will continue to speak on the situation in Ukraine. And we have repeatedly said at these meetings what our targets in Ukraine are – the military infrastructure that allows the Kiev regime to maintain its military machine.
I think we should conclude here. I suggest to the distinguished representative of the United States that we continue our sparring during the meetings on Ukraine.
Thank you.
