His Excellency Nikos Christodoulides, President of Republic of Cyprus: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his report on the Sustainable Development Goals, noted that by the end of 2022, there was more than a 50% increase in civilian deaths during conflicts and the violent displacement of 108 million people worldwide. I regret to point out that these figures, these numbers, have unfortunately already been surpassed; they have increased even more.
Today, we are facing the highest number of conflicts humanity has seen since the Cold War. The situation in the Middle East after October 7, 2023, highlighted how fragile peace is and demonstrated the multiplicative nature that a conflict takes on with the diffusion of the crisis into other areas. It also revealed that there are no “frozen conflicts.”
After October 7, as the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorated, Cyprus took action. In October 2023, we first presented in Paris, at the conference organized by President Macron, our proposal for the creation of a humanitarian maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza. Although the initial reactions, more internally and less externally, were dismissive of our announcement, we implemented the Amalthea initiative, activating the maritime corridor for humanitarian aid, acting within the framework of our moral responsibility to assist the innocent citizens of Gaza, as a State that maintains excellent relations with all neighboring countries and represents the European Union in the region.
And because I was recently in New York and had the opportunity to meet with several foreign leaders and the Secretary-General of the United Nations himself, I feel proud that everyone, without exception, started our discussions by expressing gratitude for our country’s initiative and highlighting its role in addressing a humanitarian crisis.
