Egypt stresses necessity of boosting UN activities in humanitarian aid field

The UN General Assembly Friday endorsed a large number of resolutions on providing humanitarian aid to countries which are either exposed to natural disasters or suffer from the aftermath of wars including the Palestinian people, Mozambique, Somalia, the Democratic Congo, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Belize and Kazakhstan.

Egypt's Permanent Delegate to the UN Ahmed Abul-Gheit said that Egypt has effectively taken part in the UN deliberations on this important topic.

"Egypt's participation emanated from its faith in the necessity of boosting the international community through the UN in humanitarian aid domain," he said.

"The UN activity in this field should be on the basis of transparency and neutrality and not on political considerations," he added.

Ambassador Abul-Gheit said that among resolution adopted is that one submitted by the EU every year on providing the Palestinian people with humanitarian aid.

"Egypt had welcomed that resolution and urged all countries and international agencies to fulfill their obligations in this respect," he added.

"Egypt has urged, in its statement to the UNGA, the international community to intervene to protect the Palestinian people and affirm its commitment to the Middle East peace process through addressing a clear message to Israel to respect the Palestinian human rights," he said.

Abul-Gheit said that during the GA deliberations, Egypt underlined the necessity of respecting safety and security of humanitarian aid workers and condemned acts of violence, killing and detention against them.

"All these acts are incriminated by the international law," he added. Egypt called on parties involved in the armed conflicts to respect humanitarian aid workers, he said.

"Egypt also asked that workers overseeing humanitarian relief operations to respect UN charter and principles and the international law while carrying out their mission," he added.

He also called on the UNGA to play a pivotal role in following up and assessing humanitarian relief operations.