Madam President,
We commend the presidency of Malta for successfully steering the work of the Council in April 2024, and specially for convening this High-Level Open Debate. We thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive briefing. My delegation aligns itself with the statements to be delivered by Uganda and Mauritania, on behalf of the NAM and the OIC respectively.
Madam President,
In last six months, we have been repeatedly urging this Council, and in the General Assembly, for an immediate ceasefire to save the innocent civilians’ lives in Gaza. However, the reality continues to be absolutely frustrating and unacceptable that the death toll is rising, people are dying in front of us, and we are here every time, reporting the rising number; which has crossed 34000 now.
Even though this Council finally could adopt resolution 2728 three weeks ago calling for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, nothing has changed on the ground. Aggression and killing of innocent civilians by Israel continued. We are also nowadays being educated that Security Council resolutions are not binding!!!
Madam President,
We are witnessing continued, unabated, and planned killings of civilians; unprecedented killings of UN staffs, humanitarian workers, destroying hospitals and shelters, forced starvation, and blocking of humanitarian assistance while millions of people are in dire need of emergency life-saving assistances. But unfortunately, neither killing of civilians has been stopped nor the life-saving assistance has been reached. The prospect of a negotiated ceasefire, despite repeated hopes, still remains elusive. Apart from the ongoing unhindered carnage in Gaza, we are also witnessing increasing violence by the Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinians in West Bank.
Now the question is what else we can do in the multilateral platform to stop this indiscriminate attack and killing of civilians, which are tantamount to genocide and crimes against humanity. Call of this Council is ignored and disregarded. Not only this Council, decisions of the General Assembly; Human Rights Council; International Court of Justice, all are being blatantly disregarded by Israel and its allies.
Madam President,
We commend Malta as the current President of this Security Council, calling upon the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to expeditiously complete the ongoing investigation, which we fully support and echo. Bangladesh, in line with its strong value-based position against mass atrocity crimes, has been one of the five member states who referred the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to the International Criminal Court in November 2023. We are also deeply concerned that Israel is not following the directives of the International Court of Justice. Today, we call upon all member states of the UN to abide by the recent Human Rights Council resolution calling for, among others, cessation of arms transfers to the occupying power.
Madam President,
We do not know what is actually pulling this Council back from accepting the State of Palestine a member; while overwhelming majority in the General Assembly voted for it, while almost all the members are supporting the two-state solution. We strongly urge the “Committee on the Admission of New Members” to recommend admission of the State of Palestine as a member State of the United Nations. We call upon all members of this Council to unanimously support the resolution approving Palestine’s full membership in the UN. Please note that we have overwhelming support General Assembly in favour of the full membership of the State of Palestine.
Madam President,
Bangladesh strongly condemns the attack of 01 April 2024 on the Consulate building of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria. Bangladesh stresses that the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected in all cases. We are deeply concerned over the current developments and serious escalation between Iran and Israel, which threatens peace and stability in the Middle East. We call upon all parties to work for avoiding any further escalation of conflict. We believe that the root cause of all past and present instability in the Middle East is the prolonged Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories, its repeated aggression and atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories, and its apartheid-like treatment of the Palestinian people. Regrettably, they are doing all these with total disregard of the international community in the form of numerous UN resolution calling for the end of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state as envisaged in the two-state solution. Without solving this core issue, we cannot expect peace in the region. We also believe that supporting the two-state solution but opposing the full UN membership of the State of Palestine, is surprisingly contradictory.
Madam President,
We once again, urge this Council to take immediate measures to stop the Israeli atrocities in Gaza by taking all possible measures to implement resolution 2728; and also, to bring an end of decades-long Israeli occupation and aggression against Palestine. In this regard, we would like to reiterate that the only solution of this crisis; the only way to establish peace in Palestine and the whole region, is to establish an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, under a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders and granting the admission of the State of Palestine as member of the United Nations.
I thank you, Madam President.