Israel-Palestine war: Why UN Secretary-General invoked Article 99 of UN Charter

With UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoking Article 99 of the UN Charter because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, ETV Bharat’s Aroonim Bhuyan looks at when this Article has been used in the past and the reasons why.

New Delhi:It is after more than three decades that a UN secretary-general has been compelled to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter in light of the ongoing Israel-Palestine war that has claimed over 17,000 lives, most of them children and women in the Palestinian territory of Gaza on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the UN Charter, Secretary-General António Guterres called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to “press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and unite in a call for a full humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants.

In his letter to UNSC President Jose de la Gasca of Ecuador, Guterres stated that “civilians throughout Gaza face grave danger”. Guterres said the more than eight weeks of fighting overall had “created appalling human suffering, physical destruction and collective trauma across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

“The health care system in Gaza is collapsing. Hospitals have turned into battlegrounds. Only 14 hospitals out of 36 facilities are partially functional,” Guterres wrote, adding “nowhere is safe in Gaza”. The consequences of that have irreversible implications for Palestinians and the peace and security of the entire region, the UN Secretary-General stated.

“Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost,” Guterres wrote. “The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent. The civilian population must be spared from greater harm.”

As expected, Israel raged at Guterres’s letter to the UNSC. Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen accused Guterres of supporting Hamas, called for his resignation, and said his tenure as head of the world body was “a danger to world peace”. In a statement to journalists, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that this was the first time Guterres had felt compelled to invoke Article 99 since taking office in 2017.

Dujarric explained that the UN chief was taking the step “given the scale of the loss of human life in Gaza and Israel, in such a short amount of time”. He described the use of Article 99 as a “dramatic constitutional move” that Guterres hoped would put more pressure on the UNSC - and the international community at large - to demand a ceasefire between the warring parties.

So, what is Article 99 and why is it invoked?

Article 99, which comes under Chapter XV of the UN Charter, states: “The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

The importance of Article 99 lies in its recognition of the Secretary-General as a key actor in the early detection and prevention of potential threats to international peace. While the Secretary-General has the authority to bring matters to the attention of the Security Council under Article 99, it is important to note that the Council’s subsequent actions would depend on its members’ decisions and the particular circumstances of the situation at hand. Before Guterres’ move on Wednesday, Article 99 was formally invoked only three times in the past.

The first UN Secretary-General to invoke Article 99 was Dag Hammarskjold. He invoked the Article in 1960 because of the Congo Crisis, a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The Congolese government cabled Hammarskjold with a request for UN military assistance to protect against Belgian paratroopers who were dispatched to protect Belgian interests (including inhabitants) in the former colony. The country was in chaos.

Hammarskjold then requested an urgent meeting of the UNSC on “a matter which, in my opinion, may threaten international peace and security”. At the meeting, he recommended that a UN force be sent to Congo so that the Belgian forces could be withdrawn and to prevent other countries from sending troops. The UNSC then authorised the Secretary-General to send the UN force. The United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC), which at its peak numbered almost 20,000 troops, was established to help maintain law and order.

The second time Article 99 was formally invoked was in 1979. Then Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim invoked the Article when the US Embassy in Tehran was seized by revolutionary Islamic students on November 4, 1979, with support of Iran's new government. Waldheim wrote to the then UNSC President on November 25 drawing attention to the continuing crisis and requesting a UNSC meeting, saying that it was his opinion that the crisis posed a threat to international peace and security.

The UNSC formally met on November 27. In a resolution adopted on December 4, 1979, the UNSC called for the release of hostages, restoration of diplomatic immunities and authorized the Secretary-General to “take all appropriate measures” to implement the resolution. On December 31, 1979, Waldheim traveled to Tehran but his four-point proposal was rejected and he had to return empty-handed.

The last time a UN secretary-general formally invoked Article 99 was in 1989. It was invoked by then Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar due to the Lebanon Civil War, a multifaceted armed conflict that resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and also led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. In a letter to the then UNSC President, Cuellar noted that violence in and around Beirut “had escalated to a level unprecedented in fourteen years of conflict.” He stated his belief that an effective ceasefire was imperative.”

“In my opinion, the present crisis poses a serious threat to international peace and security. Accordingly, in the exercise of my responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations, I ask that the Security Council be convened urgently,” Cuellar stated. This resulted in the UN sending a fact-finding mission. Now that Guterres has also invoked Article 99, it remains to be seen whether the UN can play a role in resolving the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and bring relief to Palestinian civilians living there.