Statement by Representative of Slovenia to the UN Security Council Ambassador Samuel Žbogar at the briefing on the Protection of civilians in armed conflict

Thank you Madam President.

I also want to thank the briefers Assistant Secretary-General Brands Kehris, Director Paulsen and Acting Under-Secretary-General Msuya.

This meeting takes place in light of the latest Famine Review Committee alert for Gaza, with particular focus on northern Gaza Strip. It is not the first meeting we are holding on man-made hunger in Gaza.

It is also not the first meeting on the man-made catastrophic circumstances in the north Gaza. A siege within a siege is unfolding, verging on the apocalyptic situation, as recently characterized by the humanitarian agencies present in theatre.

Protection of civilians is not a political issue; it is a non-negotiable principle. It is a legal obligation.

We should therefore take this alert seriously and I want to put it very straightforward. People in Gaza are starving. Women and men, from children to older persons are hungry while 100.000 metric tons of food awaits entry at different corridors around Gaza. Famine in Gaza is predictable and it is – I repeat – man-made and preventable.

The worst-case scenario with the onset of winter and expected flooding in this low-lying coastal strip looms over displaced population without basic shelter, surrounded by wastewater, solid waste and debris. Demolished water facilities expose them to contaminated water resources and shatter local production of food. We fail to understand how one cannot feel the horrible pain of Palestinians in Gaza.

As underlined by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food and as just recalled by my colleague from Algeria, never in post-world war history had a population been made to go hungry so quickly and as completely as was the case for the Palestinians living in Gaza. Man-made famine is a form of slow violence causing lasting physical and psychological harm to survivors. It generates a social trauma, which passes through future generations.

More immediately, we are deeply concerned for this generation of children. Stories of children in Gaza unable to cry due to hunger should force us to act now. Their silence must be deafening for their families, their doctors, their communities. The only silence louder is the one of this Council not acting to prevent the worst from happening.

We call for full implementation of all four Security Council resolutions related to this war and all ICJ orders on provisional measures. We underline that starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited by international law. We reject all attempts to starve Palestinians in Gaza.

More than a year into the war, we cannot accept assurances implying that everything possible is being done for protection of civilian population in Gaza. This is simply not true.

The Security Council must demand urgent scaling up the delivery of humanitarian assistance to and within Gaza.

The Council must demand urgent scaling up the delivery of commercial goods.

The Council must demand full humanitarian access and appropriate space and safety to be granted to humanitarian organizations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental.

The Council must demand rapid recovery of local food system and recovery of the WASH systems.

The Security Council must demand an unconditional release of all hostages. To use the words of briefers – time for Council’s action is now, within days, not weeks.

Colleagues,

Any effort to prevent famine in Gaza is inherently connected to the situation of UNRWA. This Agency is a backbone of humanitarian response in Gaza. Its collapse would have unimaginable consequences for people in Gaza. There is no alternative to UNRWA. There is nobody in Gaza that can replace UNRWA. This has been expressed very clearly by all UN agencies and humanitarian organisations and again today by the briefers. We urge Israeli Government to not implement the legislation recently adopted by the Knesset.

Madam President,

this alert is a wake-up call. Failure to provide peace to Middle East cannot be an excuse to fail protecting civilians in the region. We have a responsibility to protect them. Humanitarian situation in itself has become a threat to international peace and security, and this Council must act on it with a clear decision for a ceasefire.

Thank you.

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