The Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, announced on Tuesday that they had conducted three operations targeting vessels in different locations, Yemen's Al-Masirah news network reported.

He said that the first operation targeted the British oil tanker CORDELIA MOON in the Red Sea, using a combination of eight ballistic missiles, a drone, and a guided boat. This resulted in significant damage to the vessel.

The second operation focused on the vessel MARATHOPOLIS in the Indian Ocean, which was hit by a cruise missile, he added.

He further noted that a follow-up operation targeted the same vessel again as it sailed through the Arabian Sea, northeast of Yemen's Socotra Archipelago. This third strike involved a drone, causing a direct hit.

The Yemeni Armed Forces stated that these military actions were in response to American and British aggression against Yemen and were in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements.

They also announced their intent to maintain a naval blockade on Israel, stating that their operations would continue until the aggression on Gaza is halted, the siege is lifted, and the attacks on Lebanon cease.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian Resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 41,638 people and wounded another 96,460 individuals, come to an end.

The United States and Britain in December announced a military coalition to target Yemen in support of the Zionist regime.

The Times of Israel has reported a while earlier that ' Iran fires 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in unprecedented attack, triggering sirens across country'. It reported IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari statement that there are no additional threats heading toward Israel from Iran currently, indicating that the missile attack is over. Residents were notified a short while ago that they can leave bomb shelters, after an hour.

“During the defense, we carried out quite a few interceptions. There are some impacts in the center and areas in the south of the country,” Hagari says. “At this stage, we are still carrying out an assessment [of the attack], but we are unaware of casualties,” he adds.

Israel's another newspaper Jerusalem Post reported that Some 181 ballistic missiles were launched onto Israel on Tuesday night by Iran, it says that leading to 1800 rocket sirens sounding across the country.

Geneva, 28 Sept. 2024

' The year 2024 marks the twentieth anniversary of the issuance of the Permanent Constitution of the State of Qatar, We, as Qataris, are proud of what our constitution included in terms of a wide scope for the rule of law, justice, peace and human rights for all, including women and children, said Dr. Mohammed bin Saif Al-Kuwari, Vice-Chairman, National Human Rights Committee of Qatar (NHRC).

He was addressing at an exhibition organised by NHRC Qatar on the sidelines of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva under the title 'Promoting and protecting the rights of women and children in times of armed conflict'. Present on the occasion were Mrs. Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al-Misnad'; Dr. Hind Al-Muftah, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations; and a group of representatives of diplomatic missions in Geneva.

AlKuwari further said that Qatari constitution has translated our hopes and aspirations to build a modern state that seeks to achieve peace and sustainable development for its people generation after generation. Today, Qatar is participating with the United Nations in efforts to promote peace, sustainable development and human dignity for current and future generations, and believes that the future of humanity is conditional on international cooperation, respect for international law and leaving no one behind.

He added that international reports and studies have shown that armed conflicts undermine human rights, and that women and children, including girls, are their most prominent victims.

He referred a report released by UNICEF for 2022 disclosed that 104,100 children were killed and injured in armed conflict situations between 2005 and 2020. The United Nations Women's Organization also verified 2,455 cases of sexual violence related to armed conflict in 2022, other than those cases not reported.

he said that that witnesses incidents of violence targeting women around the world increased by 16.1 times between 2005 and 2020, and that more than half of them occurred in countries affected by armed conflicts, one of the reasons in increase is since 2022 after the outbreak of conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan and others.

He pointed out that 70% of the victims of wars in the Arab region are women and children as per  the report prepared by the United Nations Women's Organization and the Arab Women's Organization.

Al-Kuwari said that the NHRC has developed a list of recommendations promoting and protecting the rights of women and children in times of armed conflict and beyond.

He added that NHRC aims to establish a culture of peace, human rights and the rule of law, including the principles of justice, tolerance, accountability and non-impunity, most notably contributing to supporting and building the capacities of Arab national human rights institutions in areas of armed conflict, such as Palestine, Sudan, Libya and Iraq.

He stressed on building a national mechanism to protect rights holders, including vulnerable groups such as women, children, minorities, refugees and human rights defenders. And following up on the conditions of civilians evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021, and from Palestine in 2024, to Doha, including women and children, and ensuring that they enjoy food, health and educational relief.

NHRC Qatar Vice-Chairman added that the rights of women and children in areas of armed conflict, especially Palestine, were main topics during International Conference on Food Justice from a Human Rights Perspective in 2024, and in Regional Symposium on Protecting the Rights of the Elderly in Conflict Zones, including Palestine in 2024.

Talking about the exhibition, Dr. Al-Kuwari explained that there are creative works in Arabic calligraphy on  Human Rights in Islamic Culture based on Quranic verses and hadiths contemporary with human rights principles adopted 1400 years ago, almost hundreds of years before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The exhibition of human rights paintings in Islamic culture has been organized since 2009 in many European and Arab capitals, including Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Athens, Brussels, Washington, Tunisia, Kuwait, in addition to organizing the exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva.

About 2nd exhibition, Al Kuwari said that paintings display about human rights in sports. Initially, this exhibition was launched by NHRC before FIFA World Cup 2022 at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, and in Algeria at the Sheraton Gardens throughout the days of the tournament.

The aim of this exhibition is to spread the culture of human rights during sports competitions and to spread the values ​​of tolerance and reject violence, racism and hate speech during the practice of sports and cheering. It also guarantees the rights of people with disabilities and the elderly to access stadiums

 

 

Geneva, 28 Sept. 2024 (Xinhua)

China offers 'the prime example' of the success of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a global trade driver, WTO Chief Economist Ralph Ossa told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Through a series of successful measures in economic growth and trade, the Chinese government has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, Ossa noted.

China is an example of how trade-led development can transform a country, showing that developing countries worldwide can break free from poverty by leveraging international trade, he said.

In the 2024 edition of the World Trade Report released on Monday, the WTO presented strong evidence that trade has played a crucial role in narrowing income disparities and improving the inclusiveness of the global economy.

The report noted that between 1996 and 2021, a high trade share of GDP was strongly linked to faster growth in low- and middle-income economies, helping them narrow the gap in GDP per capita with high-income economies.

In its annual trade outlook report published in April this year, the WTO estimated that global trade volume in merchandise could increase by 2.6 percent in 2024 and 3.3 percent in 2025.

However, Ossa warned that global trade faces both cyclical and structural challenges. Cyclic challenges mainly refer to the impact of trade on the macroeconomic situation, with trade performance, particularly in Europe, being lower than expected; structural challenges stem largely from geopolitical tensions that create trade frictions.

In the face of the above challenges, strengthening the global supply chain is vital to international trade, Ossa said, adding that the trade facilitation measures taken by China, such as organizing the China International Import Expo and China International Supply Chain Expo are conducive to global trade.

Speaking of rising trade protectionism, Ossa said that "less trade will not promote inclusiveness ... true inclusiveness demands a comprehensive strategy, one that integrates open trade, on the one hand, with supportive domestic policies and effective international cooperation on the other hand."

He believes that tariffs are usually not the best tool to protect workers. The WTO report suggests using supportive domestic policies to help workers achieve employment opportunities, which is "a more effective approach than protectionism."

Efforts should be made in three aspects to ensure that more economies benefit from international trade: to strengthen the implementation of relevant WTO agreements, to update the WTO rulebook to adapt to future development trends, and to strengthen information sharing, said Ossa.

He called for an open, predictable and non-discriminatory trading system with broad participation from all countries, adding that globalization is the prescription for dealing with the fragmentation trend that currently threatens the global economy.

"By expanding trade integration to more economies, to more people, and towards more issues, I believe that we can make trade part of the solution to the most pressing challenges of our time," Ossa said.

New York, 27 Sept 2024 (APP)

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today on Friday warned the world community that the illegal occupation of Palestine and Kashmir was creating a 'fresh hell' every day and stressed the efforts for dispute resolution besides addressing the global challenges of terrorism, climate change and Islamophobia.

He said that illegal occupation creates a fresh hell, every day, in the killing fields of Palestine, and in occupied Jammu and Kashmir… Can we turn a blind eye to the mothers, cradling the lifeless bodies of their children ? This is not just a conflict; this is systematic slaughter of innocent people; an assault on the very essence of human life and dignity. The blood of Gaza’s children stains the hands of not just the oppressors, but also of those who are complicit in prolonging this cruel conflict,” he told the annual 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) here.

The prime minister, in his 21-minute address at the 193-member Assembly, touched on multiple regional and international issues including Palestine and Kashmir disputes, Ukraine war, climate change, rising poverty and debt burden particularly induced by climate change impacts.

Prime Minister Shehbaz called upon the international community’s action to demand an immediate end to the bloodshed, as work for a durable peace through a viable, secure, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its eternal Capital.

Before the gathering of the global leaders, Prime Minister Shehbaz also highlighted the sufferings of the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and said that India had resiled from commitments to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir which mandated a plebiscite to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their fundamental right to self-determination.

Since 5 August 2019, India has initiated unilateral illegal steps to impose what its leaders ominously call, a 'Final Solution' for Jammu and Kashmir. Nine hundred thousand Indian troops terrorize the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, with draconian measures, including prolonged curfews, extra-judicial killings and the abduction of thousands of young Kashmiris'.

He highlighted the Indian nefarious designs of seizing Kashmiri lands and properties, and settling outsiders into occupied Jammu and Kashmir, to transform the Muslim-majority into a minority.

The Pakistan delegation to the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, walked out on Friday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage to address the 193-member Assembly.

Among others who boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu address also included Arab Countries, Brazil, Iran, Turkey, Botswana,  Columbia, Chile, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau among many others. It served as a strong gesture of protest to the presence of  Netanyahu, whom the UN organs and human rights bodies have accused of being responsible for carrying out a massacre of the Palestinian people in its deadly war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, criticism has arisen over allowing the UN address by Netanyahu, for whom International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking an arrest warrant for 'war crimes'.

Official News Agency of Rurkiye, Anadolu reported that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his trip to New York on Friday evening following an unprecedented airstrike by his country's army on Lebanon's capital.

A statement by his office indicated that Netanyahu took off from New York at 1 p.m. EDT. Netanyahu's office released a photo for him inside his office at the UN headquarters in New York while using a landline telephone to approve the strike on Beirut.

Bangkok, 24 Sept. 2024

Mrs. Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Attiyah, Chairperson, Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar announced that GANHRI will release a statement ahead of the Future Summit in New York City, which will host world leaders this week.

She emphasized the need for governments to reaffirm their dedication to human rights, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the United Nations Charter, urging the establishment of a revitalized multilateral system focused on enhancing people's quality of life.

Al-Attiyah also called on national human rights institutions to collaborate with their governments in discussing the significance of human rights in the implementation of the upcoming 'Future Charter'.

This announcement was made during Al-Attiyah’s virtual address at the 29th Annual General Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Forum, taking place in Bangkok from September 24 to 25. She highlighted that the Future Summit presents a unique opportunity for participating nations to strengthen cooperation, set clear objectives, and outline essential measures to safeguard the rights and interests of future generations.

Al-Attiyah stressed the importance of collaboration among national human rights institutions to effectively address contemporary challenges, including crises, climate change, and diminishing civil space. She pointed out that the interconnected risks we face today threaten peace and security globally, emphasizing the urgent need to defend fundamental rights in a world marked by discrimination and inequality.

Furthermore, she reaffirmed the Global Alliance's commitment to support its members in navigating these complex challenges, asserting that the collective strength of the alliance is key to identifying practical solutions for national institutions across regions.

In Geneva, the Human Rights Council is discussing crucial initiatives regarding national human rights institutions, focusing on issues like disabilities and monitoring mechanisms. Al-Attiyah urged national institutions to engage with their governments to achieve significant outcomes.

Additionally, she noted that the Copenhagen-Kiev Declaration, adopted during last year's International Conference, commits members to combat torture and ill-treatment. The Global Alliance is implementing a work program to support these efforts, coinciding with the upcoming fortieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 2024.

Al-Attiyah also highlighted the importance of addressing climate change impacts on human rights and announced preparations for COP29 in Baku.

Asia Pacific Forum promote the establishment of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the Asia Pacific and support its members to be as effective as possible.

Asia Pacific Forum founded in 1996,  brings together National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) from all corners of the Asia Pacific to address some of the most serious human rights challenges in our region.

Drawing on 28 years of human rights experience, a commitment to innovation and an outcomes-based approach to its work, its expertise lies in supporting the establishment of NHRIs and strengthening the capacity of its members to carry out their vital work.

We also work closely with governments, civil society organizations, regional human rights bodies, and the international community to build strong partnerships and strengthen the impact of our members as they work to build fair, inclusive, and resilient communities.

The Forum provides a comprehensive suite of programs and services, as well as contributing the collective voice of its members to discussion of human rights issues at the regional and international levels.

New York, 23 Sept. 2024 (QNA)

The Amir of State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani participated in the opening session of the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), held in New York. Present on the occasion were their Majesties; Highnesses; head of states and governments, heads of delegations; governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Among Qatari delegation included were Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani;  and members of the official delegation accompanying HH the Amir.

Following is the speech delivered by The Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the opening session of the 79th United Nations General Assembly:

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Your Excellency! President of the General Assembly;  Your Excellency! Secretary-General of the United Nations;  Hon. audience, May the peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate HE Mr. Philemon Yang on assuming the presidency of the 79th session of the General Assembly, wishing him every success in his tasks. And I express appreciation to HE Mr. Dennis Francis for his efforts during his presidency of the previous session. And we commend the prominent role played by HE Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in strengthening its role and achieving its lofty goals.

Mr. President !

The blatant aggression that befalls the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip today is the most barbaric, heinous and extensive in breaching human values, international charters and norms. This is not a war within the international relations’ well-known and common concept of war, but rather a crime of genocide by means of using the most sophisticated weapons against a people besieged in a detention camp where there is no escape from the barrage of aerial bombing.

Verily, the resolutions, condemnations and reports have been exhausted, and nothing is left behind except the undeterred, ongoing and premeditated stark crime, that victimizes children, women and the elderly. We oppose violence and the targeting of innocent civilians by any party, but after a year of the war, and with all that has been and is still being perpetrated in it, it is no longer tenable to talk about Israel's right to defend itself in this context without being complicit in justifying the crime.

It is no longer plausible for any official to claim that he does not know, thanks to the well-known facts and reports issued by international organizations about the bombing of schools and hospitals and weaponizing access to food and medicine, in addition to the published and publicly uttered intentions of Israeli leaders. Therefore, the failure to intervene to stop the aggression is a major scandal.

Ladies and Gentlemen !

Every year I stand on this podium and begin my speech by talking about the Palestinian cause, the absence of justice, the perils of believing that it can be neglected, and the illusions of making peace without a just solution. I have done so every year at a time when the Palestinian cause has become absent from the speeches of major powers’ representatives in our world. There are those who are tempted by the possibility of either marginalizing this issue to get rid of its burden, or seeing it vanished without resolving it, but the Palestinian cause is resistant to marginalization, because it is an issue of indigenous people on their own land and who are subjected to a settler-colonial occupation.

This occupation has taken the form of an apartheid system in the 21st century. Can this be overlooked ? The Palestinian cause will remain lingering in place, except in two cases, either the end of the occupation, or the disappearance of the Palestinian people. However, it seems that there are those in Israel who entertain wishful thinking to eliminate this people.

The ongoing Israeli aggression for nearly a year is nothing but a result of the absence of a sincere political will, deliberate international failure to resolve the Palestinian issue with a just solution, and insistence of the occupying Israeli authorities to impose a fait accompli on the Palestinians and the world with all types of force.

The ongoing brutal war has fired the coup de grace at international legitimacy and inflicted serious damage on the credibility of the post-World War II concepts on which the international community was founded. As if the dire consequences of this approach, which are visible before our eyes, are not enough to prove that ignoring a just solution is conducive to disaster, we discover, to our disbelief, that some are still trying to find innovative measures to run Gaza after the war, with or without an authority, only on the basis of security considerations (and what is meant in this respect, of course, is the security of the occupation, not the security of those who are languishing under the occupation itself).

It is the same mindset that led from one disaster to another. It is the approach that wants to tailor the entire region to fit Israel’s size, while looking for circumventions to avoid ending the occupation and work on imposing the rule of one people over another by force. Is it reasonable that even after this disaster, the major countries with the ability to influence the course of events are unable to reach a conclusion of the necessity to stop the war and pivot towards a just solution immediately instead of innovatively working on formulations to evade it ?

The end of the occupation and the Palestinian people exercising their right to self-determination is neither a favor nor a gift from anyone. Unfortunately, the Security Council has failed to implement its ceasefire resolution in the Gaza Strip and to refrain from granting the state of Palestine full membership status in the United Nations despite the General Assembly's adoption of a resolution supporting Palestine's request for UN membership last May.

The state of Palestine's full UN membership neither establishes its sovereignty nor ends the occupation, but at least sends a message to the far-right government involved in challenging international legitimacy, that force does not eliminate rights. Talking about such a step harming the peace process is simply eyewash, because there is no Israeli partner for peace during the current government's tenure, and no peace process taking place, but rather a genocide.

In this regard, we highly value the position of the countries that recognized the State of Palestine based on 1967 borders. The continuation of the humanitarian tragedy of the brotherly Palestinian people for more than seven and a half decades is a shameful stain on the conscience of the international community and its institutions. There is no point in talking about security, peace, and stability in the Middle East region and across the world if not backed by concrete steps leading to an immediate ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of all Arab territories.

Honorable Audience !

It is no secret that we are facing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and other Palestinian territories, which are subjected to coordinated attacks by the occupation army and settlers in an attempt to enforce plans to expand settlements, annex the West Bank, and Judaize Jerusalem. The international community bears responsibility for the consequences of what is happening to the brotherly Palestinian people who are subjected to unfolding genocidal war that has resulted, so far, in the death of more than 41 thousand martyrs, let alone the missing under the rubble, including seventeen thousand children, eleven thousand women and one hundred thousand wounded including thousands of disabled and millions of people who were forcibly displaced several times, in addition to the complete destruction of the infrastructure of hospitals, schools and buildings including mosques and churches.

A whole society is being destroyed in the course of the genocide against segments of the Palestinian people. It is the Gazan Palestinian community that has retained its composure and achieved remarkable development levels amid more than 17-year old stifling siege.

Mr. President !

The State of Qatar has opted for undertaking mediation efforts in an endeavor to stop the aggression on Gaza and secure the release of prisoners and detainees. It is a mediation amidst fierce war and complex circumstances, during which one party would not hesitate to assassinate counterpart political leaders with whom it negotiates, such as the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who many people feign forgetfulness that he was not only the political leader of Hamas but also the first elected Palestinian prime minister.

For us mediation and humanitarian work are both a strategic political choice at the regional and international levels, and a humanitarian duty before being a political one. And we are not boastful of that vis-a-vis others. Our mediation efforts, in partnership with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States of America, culminated in a humanitarian agreement last November. It resulted in a brief ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners and 109 of the detainees in Gaza, and increased the flow of relief shipments.

We also provided humanitarian support to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, contributed to evacuating the wounded and sick, supporting humanitarian initiatives to deliver aid through all accessible routes, and increasing our support to UNRWA, an irreplaceable international agency whose services are indispensable and which has been subjected to a defamation for political purposes related to the Israeli government's desire to eliminate the refugee crisis without resolving Palestine cause.

The State of Qatar will spare no effort to provide various forms of humanitarian assistance to the brotherly Palestinian people until this crisis is resolved. Despite the daunting challenges, obstruction attempts, and the aspersions we are subjected to, we will continue our effort of mediation to resolve the disputes through peaceful means, as we are cognizant that any dispute will never lack a force interested in its continuation while being skeptical of any mediation regardless of the intentions.

We will continue to exert efforts with our partners until reaching a permanent ceasefire, securing the release of prisoners and detainees, taking the path of a just solution in accordance with the resolutions of the international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain all their legitimate rights, foremost of which is their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders.

The establishment of an independent Palestinian state within a just and permanent solution is in the interest of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. We will not achieve this goal except with a serious partner who is aware of the importance of renouncing discord and ending the occupation and all forms of aggression, so that we can reach together the desired peace in the Middle East.

Mr. President !

Apart from committing a major crime by rigging wireless communication devices and exploding them simultaneously across thousands of people with total disregard for their identity or location, Israel is currently waging a war on Lebanon and no one knows to what extent this war could escalate. This is what we have repeatedly warned against if the brutal war on Gaza doesn’t end.

This systematic destructive war must stop, and this is the choice before Israel as its leaders know very well. They know that it will neither bring security and peace to northern Israel nor to Lebanon, and that the key to security rests on a just peace.

Stop the aggression on Gaza! Stop the war on Lebanon. In brotherly Yemen, we look forward to preserving the 2022 truce and proceeding there from towards a comprehensive ceasefire, resolving the crisis, ensuring Yemen's unity and achieving the aspirations of its brotherly people, through negotiations between the Yemeni parties based on the outcomes of the national dialogue, the Gulf initiative and relevant Security Council resolutions.

As regards the crisis in Syria, and since the beginning of the crisis, the position of the State of Qatar has been clear that Qatar is keen on the interests of brotherly Syrian people, hoping that the parties and countries involved in the crisis will be convinced of the necessity for dialogue and understanding to end this crisis in accordance with the Geneva Declaration 1, and Security Council Resolution 2254, in a way that will achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people and preserve Syria's unity, sovereignty and independence.

Regarding the Sudanese issue, we call on all Sudanese parties to stop fighting, and we affirm our support for all regional and international efforts to end this crisis in a way that will ensure the unity of state institutions and the sovereignty and stability of Sudan.

In Libya, we support the political trajectory and the implementation of Security Council resolutions, and we urge all parties to recourse to dialogue and overcome differences in order to complete the comprehensive national reconciliation and preserve the progress and gains achieved on the security, political and economic tracks, and unify state institutions.

Arab countries cannot achieve security and stability without the existence of firmly established states capable of legislating and enforcing the law, developing and implementing national policies. No state can firmly be established and stable in the presence of armed factions that are not under its control. These are self evident and unquestionable matters.

Ladies and gentlemen!

The war between Russia and Ukraine has caused great human suffering and left repercussions on Europe and the world. We reiterate our call on all parties to implement the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the rules of international law, and seek to find a peaceful solution, as the only possible solution.

In this context, and based on our firm belief in the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes, we have made a tangible contribution over the past year, as Qatari mediation led to prisoner swap between the United States and Venezuela; and dozens of Ukrainian children were reunited with their families after being separated by war.

Finally, we affirm that the State of Qatar will spare no effort in working with its international partners and the United Nations to firmly consolidate the pillars of peace, security, sustainable development, human rights and the rule of law at all levels and to address global challenges in order to achieve a better future for all.

Thank you, and may the peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.