Activities of Secretary-General in Jordan, 10-12 June

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Jordan on Monday, 10 June, in the afternoon to attend the High-Level Conference called “Call for Action:  Urgent Humanitarian Aid for Gaza”, which was organized jointly by Jordan, Egypt and the United Nations.

On Monday, he traveled from Amman to the Dead Sea, where the conference on Gaza was taking place at King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre in the Dead Sea.  It was attended by numerous Heads of State and world leaders.

On Tuesday, 11 June, the Secretary-General held a meeting in the morning with his Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.  Following the meeting, the Secretary-General held a number of bilateral meetings before the conference started.

He held discussions with, in order, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of the Government of Spain; Charles Michel, President of the European Council; the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Ishaq Dar; Robert Golob, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia; Nikos Christodoulides, President of the Republic of Cyprus; Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, United Kingdom Minister of State for the Middle East, South Asia and the UN; Hanke Bruins Slot, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; and Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, the President of the Republic of Mozambique.

In the early afternoon, the Secretary-General delivered his remarks to the conference.  He highlighted the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza and said that at least half of all humanitarian aid missions are denied access, impeded, or cancelled due to operational or security reasons.  “It is high time for a ceasefire along with the unconditional release of hostages.  I welcome the peace initiative recently outlined by President Biden and urge all parties to seize this opportunity.  And I call on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law”, he said.

The Secretary-General underscored that the only way forward is through a political solution that opens a path to sustained peace, based on two States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines and the relevant United Nations resolutions, previous agreements and international law, with Jerusalem as capital of both States.  (See Press Release SG/SM/22264.)

On Tuesday afternoon, the Secretary-General left the Dead Sea, and headed to the airport in Amman, where he left Jordan that night to go to Geneva, Switzerland.