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Ivorian militias and Liberian mercenaries loyal to Laurent Gbagbo killed at least 37 West African immigrants in a village near the border with Liberia on March 22, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. In response to the intensifying abuses and descent into civil war, the United Nations Security Council on March 30 imposed strong measures on Gbagbo, the incumbent president, who has refused to step down and cede power to his rival, Alassane Ouattara.
Witnesses in Cote d'Ivoire told Human Rights Watch that armed men, some in uniform and others in civilian clothes, massacred the villagers, presumed to be Ouattara supporters, possibly in retaliation for the capture of nearby areas by pro-Ouattara forces. Several other witnesses described numerous incidents in which real or perceived Ouattara supporters were killed by pro-Gbagbo security forces and militiamen in Abidjan. Ouattara's troops are spreading south and east, seizing several key towns, including the political capital, Yamoussoukro, and moving toward Abidjan, the commercial capital, in a very fluid situation.
"Cote d'Ivoire has reached the boiling point," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "We are extremely concerned about the potential for further human rights atrocities, given the killings by both sides and the continued incitement to violence through the media by Gbagbo cronies."
In a four-month organized campaign of human rights abuses, which probably rise to the level of crimes against humanity, Gbagbo's forces have killed, "disappeared," and raped real and perceived supporters of Ouattara, Human Rights Watch has found. Armed men supporting Ouattara have also engaged in numerous extrajudicial executions of presumed pro-Gbagbo fighters and supporters.
According to UN estimates, approximately 500 people, the vast majority civilians, have lost their lives as a result of the violence. In March alone, forces aligned with Gbagbo killed at least 50 civilians by firing mortars into neighborhoods known to be Ouattara strongholds. Pro-Gbagbo forces have also beaten and hacked and burned to death numerous perceived Ouattara supporters at checkpoints set up by militias.
On March 25, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that between 700,000 and one million people have been displaced, largely from Abidjan. On March 29, UNHCR reported that 116,000 Ivorians have fled to eight West African countries: Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Nigeria.
On March 30, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution that calls on Gbagbo to leave office and urges a political solution to the crisis. The resolution demands an end to violence against both civilians and the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI). It urges the UN operation to use all necessary means to carry out its mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.
In addition, the Security Council resolution calls upon all parties to cooperate fully with an international commission of inquiry put in place in late March by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations committed in Cote d'Ivoire. Finally, the resolution adopts targeted sanctions against Gbagbo and four close associates, including his wife, Simone.
Human Rights Watch has urged all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and end the targeting of civilians and extrajudicial executions, and has called for UN peacekeepers to enhance civilian protection. The UN operation needs equipment, such as helicopters, as well as additional deployments of well-trained and equipped troops, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch has also stressed the importance of accountability for atrocities. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has repeatedly indicated that it will prosecute crimes committed in Cote d'Ivoire if the ICC's requirements for investigation - which relate to the gravity of the crimes and the inadequacy of national proceedings - are met. An investigation could be triggered by a referral of the situation by the UN Security Council or any state that is party to the court, or if the prosecutor decides to act on his own authority. While Cote d'Ivoire is not a party to the court, it accepted the court's jurisdiction through a declaration in 2003. The Security Council resolution references this declaration and states that the report of the commission of inquiry should be provided to the Security Council and "other relevant international bodies."
"The massacre of West African immigrants, targeting of civilians in Abidjan, and massive displacement are deeply troubling and require an effective response," Bekele said. "The UN should prepare for the worst and do all it can to protect everyone in Cote d'Ivoire who is at grave risk of horrific abuse."
Massacre at Bedi-Goazon
Human Rights Watch interviewed five witnesses to the March 22 massacre by pro-Gbagbo militias of at least 37 West African immigrants. The killings took place in the village of Bedi-Goazon, 32 kilometers from the town of Guiglo in western Cote d'Ivoire, the day after combatants loyal to Ouattara had captured the nearby town of Blolequin. Bedi-Goazon is home both to Ivorians and to an estimated 400 other West Africans, most of whom work on the cacao plantations in western Cote d'Ivoire. The witnesses said that many of the attackers, who spoke English, appeared to be Liberian, while the vast majority of victims were immigrants from Mali and Burkina Faso.
The witnesses said armed men fighting on behalf of Ouattara passed through Bedi-Goazon as they advanced toward Guiglo at approximately 1 p.m. on the day of the attack. At about 3:30 p.m., witnesses said, at least four cars containing scores of pro-Gbagbo militiamen, some in military and some in civilian dress, and some speaking English while others spoke French, attacked the part of the village where the West African immigrants live. The witnesses said the militiamen killed the immigrants inside their homes and as they attempted to flee.
Human Rights Watch received a list of 27 Malian victims, but witnesses said that the Malians' relatives, who had fled into the surrounding forest and later briefly returned to the village, counted up to 40 dead. The witnesses said the attackers were armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, and machetes. The witnesses believed their village had been attacked in reprisal for the military advance in the area by armed Ouattara supporters. As the attackers left, they pillaged and in some instances burned houses, looting any items of value, including motorcycles, money, televisions, mattresses, and clothing.
Several witnesses described a clear ethnic element to the targeting of victims. A 36-year-old witness said: "They came in accusing us of being rebels, and said, 'If you're Dioula [from Northern Cote d'Ivoire], you can try to flee if you can, if you're Guere [natives of the area and largely supporters of Gbagbo], stay, we're not concerned with you. But if you're Malian or Mossi [Burkinabe, from Burkina Faso], we will kill you.' And then they started killing."
An 18-year old Malian woman described hearing the attackers yelling, "Fire them, fire them all," in English as they descended from their vehicles and started to kill. She said she and many other women and children were saved by a female Liberian rebel who intervened to stop them from being killed.
A few witnesses, including a 16-year-old interviewed by Human Rights Watch, were wounded by machetes during the attack: "They beat me, saying they were going to cut my throat; they slashed my arms with a machete saying we were rebels."
He and others, like this 28-year-old Malian man, survived after paying money to the attackers:
At around 3 p.m. we heard the sound of heavy trucks coming, and ran into our houses. The men fired into the air, then started breaking down the doors...saying, "Fire, fire" and, "You're rebels, we'll kill all of you." We heard shots, and screams. They were killing people. My family and I were cowering in our home; after breaking down my door they screamed that I should give them money, or they'd kill me. I gave them all I had - 84,000 CFA, and the keys to 3 motorcycles. I begged them not to kill me....I was terrified...but it saved my life. The commander said, "If it wasn't for this money, you'd be dead." But not everyone had money... they killed a Burkinabe man in front of me...and later in a nearby house, I saw them kill 5 women... just a few meters away. They screamed, "Give us money!" The women pleaded saying they didn't have any....then they shot them...three inside the house, two just outside. They ordered four of us to carry the goods they looted to their truck.... As I walked through the village I saw at least 20 bodies and heard women and children wailing.... I saw them setting houses on fire and was told some villagers were burned inside.
A 34-year-old man from Burkina Faso described seeing 25 people killed, and noted what he believed to be a clear motive for the attack:
As they were killing people, they accused us of being rebels...They said other things in English that I couldn't understand. I saw 25 people killed with my own eyes. They killed women, with children, with men. They said they'd kill us all. They forced the people out and they killed them, just like they said. Most people who live there in the village are Burkinabe, Malians, and Senoufo (an ethnic group from Northern Cote d'Ivoire.) They killed people in front of the door to their house after pulling them out. One man opened his door, two guys dragged him out, and they fired their Kalashes [Kalashnikov rifles] into him. Also I saw an entire family killed. The man, two wives, the man's little brother, and their kids - two kids 9 and 5 years old. They killed them like it was nothing.
Ethnic Targeting in Abidjan
Since armed men loyal to Ouattara attempted to expand their control of areas in Abidjan into the Adjame and Williamsburg neighborhoods on March 16, dozens of civilians have been killed, either deliberately, or through excessive use of force. Immigrants from West Africa and active members of political parties allied to Ouattara were particularly targeted.
A 40 year-old man from Burkina Faso was one of nine West African immigrants detained by armed and uniformed men he believed to be policemen at a checkpoint in Adjame on March 29, and later taken into a police station and shot. Six of the men died, and the other three, including the witness, were wounded:
At 8:30 a.m., I was stopped by a checkpoint in Adjame on my way to work. They asked for my ID and after seeing my name, told me to get into a 4x4 nearby. I got in; there were 8 others there. The police vehicle took us to the 11th police commissariat. Just behind the commissariat there is a camp, which is where it all happened. The police pushed us in and yelled at us, "Are you brothers of the rebellion?" I said no but obviously it wasn't a real question. Then they said, "If you are Burkinabe, go over there to the left. If you are Malian, go to the left." So we all went left. Then they turned left and fired on us...6 of us died. I got shot in the arm and the kidneys and it looked bad so they left me for dead. The police left directly after. It was clear they were police because of their uniform; even the 4x4 was a police vehicle, marked as such, and the camp was the police camp at the commissariat. Two of the dead were Burkinabes; I learned the other six were Malian, including the two other survivors. I couldn't sleep last night because of the sutures and the memories. I will try tonight.
An Ivorian driver described the March 28 killing of three Malian butchers by militiamen wearing black T-shirts and red armbands, which are typically worn by neighborhood men. The men shot the butchers as they were in the process of fetching a cow in the Williamsville neighborhood. A Senegalese man who was shot in the arm in the Adjame neighborhood by armed men in uniform on March 17 described how two of his Senegalese friends were shot dead in the same incident: "The armed men pointed their guns at them shot them...they didn't ask them any questions, they just shot them point blank."
Another witness described the March 30 killing of a civilian who was stopped at a militia checkpoint in Adjame:
At noon, the militiamen stopped a pick-up truck and asked the driver and his apprentice for their ID papers. The driver was told to go ahead, but they pulled the apprentice out of the passenger seat and fired four times at him; his body is still in the street. This is their way of targeting foreigners...they judge your background from your ID papers. If you're an ECOWAS national or from the north, they take you out and - too often - shoot and kill. With some ten such checkpoints in Adjame now, these kinds of incidents and killings are becoming the norm.
Another witness described how he saw local militiamen conducting house-to-house searches and manning checkpoints on March 21 and 22 in Williamsville. He said he saw them kill three people, including two of his friends who were murdered in his house.
The violence in Adjame provoked the mass exodus of West African immigrants and Ivorians of northern descent from Abidjan or led them to take refuge in West African embassies.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
"Even though he may be able to afford some of the most expensive lawyers in America—no, Dr. de la Torre is not above the law," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
A U.S. Senate panel led by Sen. Bernie Sanders voted Thursday in favor of holding Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in civil and criminal contempt after he refused to appear at a hearing last week in defiance of a congressional subpoena.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed the contempt resolutions in a near-unanimous vote, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) abstaining.
The vote marked "the first time in modern American history that the HELP Committee has issued a civil or criminal contempt resolution," according to Sanders' office.
The approval of the two resolutions, which now head to the full Senate for consideration, could mean jail time for de la Torre, who has come under fire for purchasing two yachts as his private equity-backed company faced financial turmoil. De la Torre was paid a salary of nearly $4 million the year before Steward ultimately filed for bankruptcy.
A lawyer for de la Torre insisted in a letter to Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday that the CEO "lacks the authority to speak on behalf of Steward with respect to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and he is prohibited by a federal court order from doing so."
Ahead of Thursday's vote, Sanders said de la Torre's decision not to comply with the Senate HELP Committee's subpoena was "unfortunate and unacceptable."
"For months, this committee has invited Dr. de la Torre to testify about the financial mismanagement and what occurred at Steward Health Care. Time after time he has arrogantly refused to appear," said Sanders. "Dr. de la Torre has given us no choice but to move forward this morning on two resolutions to enforce the subpoena and to hold him accountable for his actions."
"Even though Dr. de la Torre may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, even though he may be able to own fancy yachts and private jets and luxurious accommodations throughout the world, even though he may be able to afford some of the most expensive lawyers in America—no, Dr. de la Torre is not above the law," Sanders added.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate panel, said in a statement that "as a physician and as the CEO of Steward from its founding, there is no one who understood the potential consequences of Steward's failures more than Dr. Ralph de la Torre."
"Dr. de la Torre led Steward when it sold out hospital real estate to Medical Properties Trust and allowed [the private equity firm] Cerberus to extract over $800 million in profit," said Markey. "Dr. de la Torre led Steward as eight hospitals closed, 2,000 patients were endangered, and at least 15 patients died. Dr. de la Torre led Steward as it filed for bankruptcy."
"We are making clear to Dr. de la Torre, the Steward Board of Directors and senior leadership, and other CEOs, private equity investors, and corporate executives who treat the healthcare system like their piggy bank: Your millions do not shield you from accountability to a legal order issued by the United States Senate," Markey added.
The Senate panel's passage of the two resolutions comes a week after Steward nurses told the committee—in de la Torre's absence—that Steward-owned hospitals were disastrous for patients and healthcare workers. A report published by the Senate HELP Committee earlier this month found that "death rates for certain conditions at some Steward-owned hospitals increased as death rates for those same conditions held steady or decreased across the country."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said in a statement Thursday that the Senate panel's "actions today are an important reminder that no one is above the law."
"Congress and the American people deserve answers on what happened under Dr. de la Torre's watch at Steward, as his damaging actions had real consequences for patient health," said Gilbert. "Dr. de la Torre and others like him should not be able to ignore congressional subpoenas without accountability."
If the full Senate approves the criminal contempt resolution, it would "refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to criminally prosecute Dr. de la Torre for failing to comply with the subpoena," Sanders' office said.
"These attacks violate the human right to life, absent any indication that the victims posed an imminent lethal threat to anyone else at the time."
Experts from the United Nations and human rights groups said that the device attacks in Lebanon, which killed at least 37 people Tuesday and Wednesday while injuring 2,900, violated international law due to their indiscriminate nature and could constitute a war crime.
The surprise attacks have been widely attributed to Israel, including by unnamed U.S. officials. They came in two waves. On Tuesday afternoon local time, thousands of pagers exploded, killing 12 people, including four children, and injuring 2,300. On Wednesday, another 25 people were killed and 600 injured by the explosion of other communications devices, including walkie-talkies and smartphones. Many of the explosions occurred in supermarkets and other public spaces around Lebanon, leaving civilians maimed.
"These attacks violate the human right to life, absent any indication that the victims posed an imminent lethal threat to anyone else at the time," a group of more than a dozen U.N. legal experts said in a statement on Thursday, including Ben Saul, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism.
The U.N. experts called the attacks "a terrifying violation of international law."
Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, also denounced the attacks in a statement on Wednesday, calling them "shocking, and their impact on civilians unacceptable," and saying that "the fear and terror unleashed" was "profound."
"Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location, and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law," Türk added.
Widespread pager explosions across #Lebanon & in #Syria yesterday are shocking and their impact on civilians unacceptable.
@volker_turk urges against further widening of current conflicts & calls for those responsible for such an attack to be held to account.
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) September 18, 2024
Israel hasn't confirmed or denied responsibility for the device attacks but has indicated that it's shifting its military focus to the north as tensions mount with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group and political party in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded airstrikes and rocket fire for the last 11 months, leaving many hundreds dead, mostly on the Lebanese side, but until now both sides have avoided an escalation that led to full-scale war. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the attacks were a "declaration of war" and Israel had crossed "all red lines."
Al Jazeerareported Wednesday that "Israel's supporters have celebrated the explosions in Lebanon, describing them as 'precise,' but the blasts went off around civilians—at funerals and in residential buildings, grocery stores, and barber shops, among other places."
The attacks' victims included a 9-year-old girl who had just that day finished her first day of fourth grade, as well as an 11-year-old boy and at least two other children. Some of the Wednesday explosions took place at funerals for those killed in the first wave. The explosions have led to panic regarding devices in the country.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told Al Jazeera "this is exactly why booby-traps of ordinary civilian objects are illegal—because not only do they cause physical harm and injury, they cause psychological and emotional harm."
Whitson, who previously worked at Human Rights Watch, called the attacks "inherently indiscriminate"—violating international humanitarian law designed to protect civilians—and a "deliberate decision on the part of Israel" to create chaos.
Huwaida Arraf, a U.S.-based human rights lawyer, agreed with Whitson, telling Al Jazeera that the coordinated attack "meets the textbook definition of state terrorism."
The experts cited a 1996 U.N. treaty that forbids the use of "booby-traps" on devices associated with civilian use.
Experts said that even if Israel sought to kill Hezbollah military operatives—the devices that exploded had been ordered by Hezbollah—there was no way it could have precisely targeted them with such attacks. Many Lebanese work for Hezbollah in non-combatant roles.
Luigi Daniele, an expert in international humanitarian law at Nottingham Trent University, toldAnadolu Agency that targeting non-combatants is a violation of international humanitarian law, as written in Article 8(2)(b)(i) of the Rome Statute. Like other experts, Daniele also cited the more general issue of detonating explosives in public places, which carries foreseeable impact on civilians that can violate Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the statute.
Saul, the U.N. rapporteur, said that being a Hezbollah accountant shouldn't make someone a target for assassination.
"The crux of the problem is it is absolutely impossible to know who would be in possession of so many pagers at the time they were detonated," he said, adding that the devices could have been passed on to loved ones.
Lama Fakih, the Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, agreed that the attacks were "unlawfully indiscriminate" and called for an independent investigation, in a statement issued Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) herself called for a congressional investigation, including into whether U.S. played a role in the attack. Members of the Biden administration have so far said relatively little publicly about the attacks.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued a sharply-worded condemnation of the attacks on Thursday.
"What we see is a genocidal state that is completely out of control and supported by a Western world that is, in large measure, too racist and Islamophobic to care," the nonprofit group wrote on social media.
The Tuesday pager attacks also extended into Syria, where 14 people were injured.
"The UNSC is failing people living in conflict, with Russia and the United States particularly responsible for abusing their veto power," said Oxfam.
As the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance worldwide has skyrocketed by 150% over the last decade, five powerful countries on the United Nations Security Council have had hundreds of opportunities to vote for progress in some of the world's most protracted conflicts—but in dozens of cases, countries including the United States and Russia have instead vetoed peace and security resolutions.
In its report, Vetoing Humanity, Oxfam International pointed Thursday to numerous vetoes made by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), or the P5, which the humanitarian group said have placed their own economic and political interests ahead of the council's mission.
The group examined 23 of the world's longest violent conflicts, including those in the occupied Palestinian territories, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen, which have collectively been the subjects of 454 resolutions passed by the UNSC since 2014.
But 30 resolutions have been vetoed by one of more of the P5 countries, including eight out of 12 regarding Palestine and Israel, 15 out of 53 on Syria, and 4 out of 7 on Ukraine.
"The UNSC is failing people living in conflict, with Russia and the United States particularly responsible for abusing their veto power," said Oxfam, noting that the two countries have together cast 75% of the 88 vetoes at the UNSC since 1989, with China casting the rest.
The other two permanent members, the United Kingdom and France, have not used their veto power since 1989, but they have still joined the other powerful countries in undermining global peace and security, said Oxfam.
In addition to veto power, the P5 has "pen-holding" privileges at the UNSC, allowing them to lead negotiations and decide how resolutions are drafted or whether they are ignored.
"The erratic and self-interested behavior of UNSC members has contributed to an explosion of humanitarian needs that is now outpacing humanitarian organizations' ability to respond. This demands a fundamental change of our international security architecture at the very top."
The P5 members have "deliberately cherry-picked which conflicts to address in the Council," reads the report. "Over the last decade, over 95% of the resolutions that the UNSC passed relate to just half of the protracted crises, leaving the other half mostly neglected."
France, the U.K., and the U.S. have held the pen on two-thirds of protracted crises over the last decade, allowing them to direct negotiations. For example, the U.K. has pen-holding privileges in talks on Yemen, "where it has interests due to historical colonial links and the strategic desire to maintain maritime routes."
The United States' use of its veto power at the UNSC has come under particular scrutiny in the past year, as it has vetoed three resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza since Israel began bombarding the enclave and blocking humanitarian aid to its 2.3 million people, pushing the population toward famine. It has also vetoed proposals to grant U.N. membership to Palestine, despite the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) voting in favor, 138-9.
"While the UNGA has passed at least 77 resolutions over the last decade supporting Palestinian self-determination and human rights and an end to Israel's illegal occupation, the U.S. has used its veto power six times to block resolutions perceived as unfavorable to its ally Israel," said Oxfam. "The U.S. vetoes have created a permissive environment for Israel to expand illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory with impunity."
P5 vetoes have "more often than not," said Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar, "contradicted the will of the U.N. General Assembly, in which all states are represented."
The report details other vetoes by the P5, including a 2023 veto by Russia of a nine-month extension of cross-border assistance to northern Syria‚ a decision that left 4.1 million people with little or no access to food, water, or medicine. Russia has also vetoed several resolutions on the country's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite the fact that the U.N. Charter states that "a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting."
"China, France, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. took responsibility for global security at the UNSC in what is now a bygone colonial age," said Behar. "The contradictions of their acting as judge and jury of their own military alliances, interests, and adventures are incompatible with a world seeking peace and justice for all."
While the P5 ostensibly helped form the UNSC with the aim of promoting and maintaining global peace and security, the report notes that "they are providing more resources in the form of military aid than they are in humanitarian assistance," with its assistance being used not just defensively by recipients but also helping "to fuel and perpetuate the conflicts that the UNSC is failing to prevent and resolve."
"In 2019, the USA provided three times as much security assistance as humanitarian aid: $18.8 billion versus $6 billion," reads the report. "China pledged $20 million a year in military aid grants to Africa over 2015–17, whereas its worldwide humanitarian assistance in 2016 totaled less than $21 million."
"Not only have the P5 governments repeatedly failed to act to avert conflict, many have profited from wars by directly selling weapons to warring parties despite violations of international humanitarian law and the human suffering resulting from these wars," the report continues.
Behar said that "the erratic and self-interested behavior of UNSC members has contributed to an explosion of humanitarian needs that is now outpacing humanitarian organizations' ability to respond. This demands a fundamental change of our international security architecture at the very top."
The report comes as the U.N. prepares for the Summit of the Future, scheduled to kick off next week with the aim of envisioning "a revitalized U.N."
Oxfam made several recommendations to end the P5's ability to undermine the mission of UNSC, calling on member states to:
"We need a new vision for a U.N. system that meets its original ambitions and made fit for purpose for today's reality," Behar said. "A Council that works for the global majority, not a powerful few."