BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — Negotiators working on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution for a week in South Korea won’t reach an agreement and plan to resume the talks next year.
They are at an impasse over whether the treaty should reduce the total plastic on Earth and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics.
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Chair of the International Negotiating Committee Luis Vayas Valdivieso speaks during the start of a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, on the screen, speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee Luis Vayas Valdivieso reacts during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, on the screen, speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Delegates attend a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, right, speaks with Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, before the start of a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, gestures before the start of a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People pass under an electric display board calling for a reduction in plastic production near the venue for the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
The negotiations in Busan, South Korea, were supposed to be the fifth and final round, to produce the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution, including in the oceans, by the end of 2024. But with time running out early Monday, negotiators plan to resume the talks next year.
More than 100 countries want the treaty to limit production as well as tackle cleanup and recycling, and many have said that is essential to address chemicals of concern. But for some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries, that crosses a red line.
For any proposal to make it into the treaty, every nation must agree to it. Some countries sought to change the process so decisions could be made with a vote if consensus couldn’t be reached and the process was paralyzed. India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and others opposed changing it, arguing consensus is vital to an inclusive, effective treaty.
On Sunday, the last scheduled day of talks, the treaty draft still had multiple options for several key sections. Some delegates and environmental organizations said it had become too watered down, including negotiators from Africa who said they would rather leave Busan without a treaty than with a weak one.
Every year, the world produces more than 400 million tons of new plastic. Plastic production could climb about 70% by 2040 without policy changes.
In Ghana, communities, bodies of water, drains and farmlands are choked with plastics, and dumping sites full of plastics are always on fire, said Sam Adu-Kumi, the country’s lead negotiator.
“We want a treaty that will be able to solve it,” he said in an interview. “Otherwise we will go without it and come and fight another time.”
At Sunday night’s meeting, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the committee chair from Ecuador, said that while they made progress in Busan, their work is far from complete and they must be pragmatic. He said countries were the furthest apart on proposals about problematic plastics and chemicals of concern, plastic production and financing the treaty, as well as the treaty principles.
Valdivieso said the meeting should be suspended and resume at a later date. Many countries then reflected on what they must see in the treaty moving forward.
Rwanda’s lead negotiator, Juliet Kabera, said she spoke on behalf of 85 countries in insisting that the treaty be ambitious throughout, fit for purpose and not built to fail, for the benefit of current and future generations. She asked everyone who supported the statement to “stand up for ambition.” Country delegates and many in the audience stood, clapping.
Panama’s delegation, which led an effort to include plastic production in the treaty, said they would return stronger, louder and more determined.
Saudi Arabia’s negotiator said chemicals and plastic production are not within the scope of the treaty. Speaking on behalf of the Arab group, he said if the world addresses plastic pollution, there should be no problem producing plastic. Kuwait’s negotiator echoed that, saying the objective is to end plastic pollution, not plastic itself, and stretching the mandate beyond its original intent erodes trust and goodwill.
In March 2022, 175 nations agreed to make the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution, including in the oceans, by the end of 2024. The resolution states that nations will develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic.
Stewart Harris, a spokesperson for the International Council of Chemical Associations, said it was an incredibly ambitious timeline. He said the ICCA is hopeful governments can reach an agreement with just a little more time.
Most of the negotiations in Busan took place behind closed doors. Environmental groups, indigenous leaders and others who traveled to Busan to help shape the treaty said it should’ve been transparent and they felt silenced.
“The voices of the impacted communities, science and health leaders are silent in the process, and to a large degree, this is why the negotiation process is failing,” said Bjorn Beeler, international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network. “Busan proved that the process is broken and just hobbling along.
South Korea’s foreign affairs minister Cho Tae-yul said that though they didn’t get a treaty in Busan as many had hoped, their efforts brought the world closer to a unified solution to ending global plastic pollution.
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Chair of the International Negotiating Committee Luis Vayas Valdivieso speaks during the start of a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, on the screen, speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee Luis Vayas Valdivieso reacts during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, on the screen, speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Delegates attend a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, right, speaks with Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, before the start of a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, gestures before the start of a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People pass under an electric display board calling for a reduction in plastic production near the venue for the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a plenary of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday it is halting aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip because of the threat of armed gangs who have looted convoys. It blamed the breakdown of law and order in large part on Israeli policies.
The decision could worsen Gaza's humanitarian crisis as a second cold, rainy winter sets in, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in squalid tent camps and reliant on international aid. Experts already warned of famine in the north, which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza, said the route leading to the Kerem Shalom crossing is too dangerous on the Gaza side. Armed men looted nearly 100 trucks on the route in mid-November.
Kerem Shalom is the only crossing between Israel and Gaza that is designed for cargo shipments and has been the main artery for aid since the Rafah crossing with Egypt was shut in May. Last month, nearly two-thirds of aid entering Gaza came through Kerem Shalom, and in previous months it accounted for even more, according to Israeli figures.
In an X post, Lazzarini largely blamed Israel for the breakdown of humanitarian operations in Gaza, citing “political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid,” lack of safety on routes and Israel's targeting of the Hamas-run police force, which previously provided public security.
“Yesterday we had assurances aid would be fine. We tried to move five trucks and they were all taken,” Scott Anderson, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told The Associated Press. “So we’ve kind of reached a point where it makes no sense to continue to try to move aid if it’s just gonna be looted.” When asked whether UNRWA has seen evidence supporting Israeli claims that Hamas has been behind aid looting, he emphasized that there's no systemic diversion of aid in Gaza.
A spokesman for UNICEF, Ammar Ammar, confirmed the security situation was “unacceptable” and said it was evaluating its operations at the crossing.
The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza said on X that it will continue to work with the international community to increase aid into Gaza through Kerem Shalom and other crossings, and said UNRWA coordinated less than 10% of the aid that entered Gaza in November.
The Israeli military accuses UNRWA of having allowed Hamas to infiltrate its ranks — allegations the agency denies — and passed legislation to sever ties with it last month.
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least six people overnight, including two children, ages 6 and 8, in their family's tent, medical officials said Sunday.
The strike in the Muwasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people, also wounded their mother and 8-month-old sister, according to nearby Nasser Hospital. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies, which were buried in the sand.
A separate strike in the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, killed four men, according to hospital records.
The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in either location. Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its daily strikes across Gaza often kill women and children.
In a separate development, a projectile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen set off air raid sirens in central Israel. The Israeli military said it intercepted the projectile before it entered Israeli territory.
A former top Israeli general and defense minister has accused the government of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have been waging their latest offensive against Hamas.
The army has sealed off the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp and allowed almost no humanitarian aid to enter. Tens of thousands of people have fled. The United Nations estimates up to 75,000 remain.
Moshe Yaalon, who served as defense minister under Benjamin Netanyahu before quitting in 2016 and becoming a critic of the prime minister, said the current far-right government is determined to “occupy, to annex, to ethnically cleanse.”
Pressed by a local news outlet on Saturday, Yaalon said: “(They) are actually cleaning the territory of Arabs.” He added Sunday in an interview with Israeli radio: "War crimes are being committed here.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party criticized his earlier remarks, accusing him of making “false statements” that are “a prize for the International Criminal Court and the camp of Israel haters.”
The ICC has issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu, another former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas commander, accusing them of crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations of genocide against Israel.
Israel rejects the allegations and says both courts are biased against it.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Some 100 captives are still held inside Gaza, around two-thirds believed to be alive.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,429 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Israel reached a ceasefire with Lebanon's Hezbollah militants last week that has largely held, but that agreement did not address the war in Gaza.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have tried to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of remaining hostages, but those efforts stalled as Israel rejected Hamas' demand for a complete withdrawal from the territory. The Biden administration has said it will make another push for a deal.
“There are negotiations taking place behind the scenes, and it can be done,” Israel's mostly ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, said Sunday. He spoke after meeting with the mother of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who appeared in a video released Saturday by Hamas.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Israeli soldiers carry a body bag following an Israeli drone strike on suspected Palestinian militants in the village of Qusra, near Jenin, in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
NO CAPTION FOUND!!!
A man looks at the car where, on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed five people, including three employees of World Central Kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
People inspect a car riddled with bullet holes after an Israeli army incursion in the village of Qusra, near Jenin, in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
An Israeli armoured vehicle sits on an Israeli army position at the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Close relatives of combat engineer squad commander Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, from Beit Shemesh, mourn during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Nov. 1, 2024. Burke was killed in combat with Hamas at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. (APcPhoto/Mahmoud Illean)
Asma Al-Kharobi, 16, feeds her 10-month-old baby sister bread mixed with water at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A soldier mourns during the funeral of combat engineer squad commander Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, from Beit Shemesh, during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Nov. 1, 2024. Burke was killed in combat with Hamas at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. (APcPhoto/Mahmoud Illean)
Close relatives, left, of combat engineer squad commander Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, from Beit Shemesh, mourn during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Nov. 1, 2024. Burke was killed in combat with Hamas at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. (APcPhoto/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of combat engineer squad commander Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, from Beit Shemesh, during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Nov. 1, 2024. Burke was killed in combat with Hamas at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. (APcPhoto/Mahmoud Illean)
Close relatives of combat engineer squad commander Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, from Beit Shemesh, mourn during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Nov. 1, 2024. Burke was killed in combat with Hamas at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. (APcPhoto/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of combat engineer squad commander Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, from Beit Shemesh, during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Nov. 1, 2024. Burke was killed in combat with Hamas at the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. (APcPhoto/Mahmoud Illean)
People shout slogans during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
People shout slogans during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Shireen Daifallah, who was displaced from northern Gaza, checks one of her children in their tent at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah. Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Shireen Daifallah, who was displaced from northern Gaza, checks one of her children in their tent at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah. Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Shireen Daifallah's children, who were displaced from northern Gaza, sleep in their tent at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah. Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Shireen Daifallah, who was displaced with her children from northern Gaza, checks the fire next to their tent at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah. Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Shireen Daifallah, who was displaced with her children from northern Gaza, checks the fire next to their tent at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah. Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
