Maldives calls for UN General Assembly Emergency Special Session

Oct 24, 2023, 2:34 AM
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

The Maldives government has called on the United Nations (UN) to resume the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly to demand a ceasefire to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

In a post on X, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid wrote that attacks by the Israeli military on innocent Palestinian civilians, especially children, have gone on for far too long.

Under President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's guidance, with other countries, we are requesting the President of the General Assembly to resume the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly in accordance with the Uniting for Peace resolution," Shahid stated.

The UN emergency session is an unscheduled session under the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution.

The first session of the 10th UN Emergency Special Session was held in 1997 at the initiative of Qatar after Israelis occupied East Jerusalem and decided to build 6,500 housing units for Israeli settlers.

Emergency special meetings are also an empowering gathering for small countries. The last emergency session was held in 2018.

Israel must act on a majority decision made at such a session. If the majority of the countries participating in the session call for an end to the inhuman attacks on Palestine, Israel will be forced to end the war.

The UN Security Council has been unable to stop Israel's relentless attacks on the West Bank and Gaza Strip due to the veto power given to the United States.

Lebanon's Hezbollah, Gaza's ruling Hamas and Yemen are also responding to Israeli targets. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks have intensified, killing 436 Palestinians in the past 24 hours alone. The total number of Palestinian martyrs has risen to 5,087.

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