29 October 2023<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres began his official visit to Nepal by extending deep condolences to the families of the 10 Nepalese students killed in the terror attacks by Hamas in Israel, and once again called for the protection of all civilians in Gaza, where, he said, \u201cthe situation is growing more desperate by the hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief\u2019s visit comes as the\u00a0crisis in the Gaza Strip<\/u><\/a>\u00a0enters its third week following the 7 October incursion by Hamas militants into Israel and Israel\u2019s subsequent declaration of war.<\/p>\n Late last week the\u00a0Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ adopted a resolution<\/u><\/a>\u00a0calling for a humanitarian truce, but the past few days have seen heavy bombardment and reports of ground operations inside Gaza by Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that even though the conflict in the Middle East is thousands of miles away, it has hit very close to home for the people of Nepal,\u201d\u00a0said the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief\u00a0<\/a>at a press conference on Sunday alongside Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.<\/p>\n Also expressing best wishes for the safe return of Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese citizen who is missing, the Secretary-General vowed that he would continue to insist on the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I repeat my utter condemnation of the appalling attacks perpetrated by Hamas. There is no justification, ever, for the killing, injuring and abduction of civilians,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n At the same time, Mr. Guterres noted the extremely dire situation in Gaza and expressed regret that instead of a critically needed humanitarian pause supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of civilians who have been killed and injured is totally unacceptable. All parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law \u2026 which emerged from the tragedy and awful experiences of war,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Emphasizing his consistent calls for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, the Secretary-General stated: \u201cThe Laws of War establish clear rules to protect human life and respect humanitarian concerns. Those laws cannot be contorted for the sake of expedience.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Guterres said that in Gaza more than two million people with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life \u2013 food, water, shelter and medical care \u2013 while being subjected to relentless bombardment.<\/p>\n \u201cI urge all those with responsibility to step back from the brink,\u201d he said calling the situation a \u201chumanitarian catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n The Secretary- General reiterated his appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of a sustained humanitarian relief at a scale that meets the needs of the people of Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must join forces to end this nightmare for the people of Gaza, Israel and all those affected around the world, including here in Nepal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Secretary- General praised the Himalayan country\u2019s long tradition of championing peace and multilateralism and called on the world to \u201cbe a better friend to Nepal\u201d, which is caught in raft of crises not of its own making, including the threat posed by climate chaos.<\/p>\n Mr. Guterres thanked Prime Minister Dahal and said that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ was hugely grateful to Nepal for its support for multilateral solutions \u2013 backed up its enormous contribution to peacekeeping missions worldwide.<\/p>\n At the start of his four-day visit to the country, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief also praised Nepal\u2019s \u201castonishing progress\u201d over the past two decades, as it had become a republic, established peace, and thrown itself behind the\u00a0Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>\u00a0(SDGs) and climate action.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd there\u2019s more to come,\u201d Mr. Guterres continued, explaining that \u201cthe next few years will be decisive, as Nepal prepares to graduate from\u00a0Least Developed Country<\/u><\/a>\u00a0status.\u201d<\/p>\n The Secretary-General was referring to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-facilitated process by which the world\u2019s most vulnerable nations, once they meet a set of criteria (on income, human assets and economic and environmental vulnerability), may take phased steps towards\u00a0\u2018graduation<\/u><\/a>\u2019, which represents an important milestone in the development path of LDCs.<\/p>\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief went on to note that over the Next few years, Nepal would also embark on the final stages of the peace process: transitional justice.<\/p>\n \u201cTransitional justice must help to bring peace to victims, families and communities,\u201d he said, emphasizing that \u201cthe United Nations stands ready to support Nepal to develop a process that meets international standards, the Supreme Court\u2019s rulings, and the needs of victims \u2013 and to put it into practice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNepal is also caught in a blizzard of global crises not of its making: the aftermath of the\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0pandemic, inflation, and the enormous threat posed by climate chaos,\u201d said the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n As such, he said, much more international action is needed. Developed countries must step up to support sustainable development, and help developing economies including Nepal to tackle the climate crisis.<\/p>\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief noted that on this trip, he planned to visit the Himalayas to see first-hand the terrible impact of the climate crisis on the glaciers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation is dire, and it is accelerating. Nepal has lost close to a third of its ice in just over thirty years. And glaciers are melting at record rates,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cThe impact on communities is devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n With this in mind, Mr. Guterres said that he also planned to meet with local people in the Himalayas to hear directly from them about how they are affected.<\/p>\n He is also expected to travel to Pokhara and to Lumbini, to reflect on the Lord Buddha\u2019s teachings of peace and non-violence.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I want to explore how the United Nations and Nepal can work together to solve problems, boost prospects, and improve international support. Because though Nepal is a friend to the world, the world must be a better friend to Nepal,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 29 October 2023 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres began his official visit to Nepal by extending deep condolences to the families of the 10 Nepalese students killed in the terror attacks by Hamas in Israel, and once again called for the protection of all civilians in Gaza, where, he said, \u201cthe situation is growing more desperate […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[5281],"document-category":[2477],"document-source":[6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,5449,1829,2265,2033,2005,2117],"entity":[],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-290191","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-nepal","document-category-news-item","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance-to-the-palestinian-people","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-children","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/290191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/290191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290223,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/290191\/revisions\/290223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=290191"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=290191"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=290191"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=290191"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=290191"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=290191"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=290191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nepal\u2019s commitment to multilateralism, SDGs<\/h3>\n
\u2018Graduation\u2019 on the horizon<\/h3>\n
\u2018Blizzard of global crises\u2019<\/h3>\n