August 13, 2025 | 12:22 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian House Speaker Puan Maharani sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regarding the liberation of Palestine. The letter titled Urgent Call for Immediate Action to End the Humanitarian Disaster in Gaza was recently sent to New York, United States.
The PDIP politician urged the UN to take concrete actions regarding Gaza. "On behalf of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, I sent a letter, considering the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of families, especially children, are facing hunger due to the ongoing blockade and massive bombings by Israel, which have destroyed livelihoods," Puan said in her letter, quoted from an official statement on Wednesday, August 13, 2025.
In the letter, Puan cited the latest reports from UN agencies, including the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). Their reports revealed critical levels of food insecurity in Gaza, which is now classified as Phase 5 (famine).
Puan mentioned that more than 1.1 million people are facing severe food insecurity, and around 500,000 children are affected by acute malnutrition, with some cases classified as "severely wasted," according to the UNICEF report.
Puan then highlighted the increasing deaths due to hunger, especially in Northern Gaza. She stated that many infants died due to a lack of formula milk, while more than 70 percent of farmland, markets, and food stores have been destroyed, and access to staple foods and medical supplies has been restricted for months.
"What we are witnessing in Gaza is no longer just a food crisis, but famine caused by deliberate and systematic policies to target civilians by using hunger as a weapon of war," Puan said.
She stated that these policies constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law as they allow civilians to starve as a method of warfare. "These actions can also be considered a grave breach of international law if carried out with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, or religious group by obstructing humanitarian aid and vital supplies, and creating conditions of life with the intent to destroy them physically," said the former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture.
Therefore, Puan urged the UN Secretary-General to take urgent action. First, she urged the Secretary-General to officially declare a famine status in Gaza, as per the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
Second, Puan urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to implement practical measures aimed at preventing famine as a weapon of war, as well as to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Third, if obstacles to humanitarian aid persist, Puan said the UN should activate Chapter VII of the UN Charter. "Because the situation constitutes a threat to international peace and security," Puan said.
Puan then urged the UN to ensure full, rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza by building safe humanitarian corridors under UN supervision.
Furthermore, the fifth, the UN needs to help mobilize immediate support for emergency humanitarian funding for Gaza by working with member countries. Puan said this is to ensure the safe provision of food, medicine, and clean water for the people of Gaza.
In the sixth point of her letter, Puan called on the UN to restore and facilitate humanitarian aid through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and other UN agencies, as well as other neutral and impartial humanitarian organizations, to the affected population in Gaza.
Puan reminded that the UN was established not only to create a safe world but also to protect helpless civilians from oppression. "We cannot remain silent while these atrocities are happening before us," she said.
In her letter to Antonio Guterres, Puan also added, "We fully support your leadership morally and institutionally, and believe that the United Nations will act in line with the urgency needed for this crisis."
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