Yesterday, Friday, the United Nations Security Council voted by a majority on a draft resolution calling for respect and protection for relief workers and United Nations employees in all countries of the world.
The Council adopted a draft resolution drafted by Switzerland with a majority of 14 votes in favour, with Russia abstaining from voting.
This step comes more than 8 months after the outbreak of the devastating Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of more than 250 humanitarian workers, most of whom worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), according to the United Nations.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “Investigations must be conducted into the killing of all humanitarian workers in Gaza.”
Commenting on the Security Council resolution, Switzerland’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Pascal Parisuil, said: “This resolution is not related to one context in particular. It is for all humanitarian workers around the world.”
For her part, Slovenia's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, Ondina Plocar, noted that "since 2003, at least 2,491 aid workers have been killed and more than 4,500 others have been injured or kidnapped around the world."
Plokar stressed that these numbers “continue to increase, with the armed conflict continuing month after month in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere, and this is simply unjustified.”
Since October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip with American support, leaving more than 116,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
This is a brilliant initiative.
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