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Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

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aliasesCEIRPP, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

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Summary

The United Nations committee established by General Assembly resolution 3376 (XXX) of 10 November 1975 to formulate recommendations for a programme of implementation of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights — self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty, and return to their homes and property (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part II (1947-1977), lines 1204-1220 approx.).

Details

  • The Assembly established the Committee by the same resolution, 3376 (XXX), in which it expressed concern that no progress had been achieved towards the exercise of those rights (note 105/; lines 1196-1204 approx.).

  • Its original members were Afghanistan, Cuba, Cyprus, German Democratic Republic, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Pakistan, Romania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and Yugoslavia; Guyana, Mali and Nigeria joined in 1976 (the study’s footnote). Observers were Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, the Libyan Arab Republic, Mauritania and the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (lines 1206-1214 approx.).

  • Ambassador Médoune Fall of Senegal was its first Chairman (lines 1216-1218 approx.).

  • Its first report (1976, document A/31/35, note 106/) recommended a two-phase right of return — the Palestinians displaced in June 1967 first, by immediate implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 237 unrelated to any other conditions, then those displaced between 1948 and 1967, with just and equitable compensation for those not choosing to return — and, for self-determination, evacuation of the territories occupied by force as a “conditio sine qua non”, a Security Council timetable for complete Israeli withdrawal from the areas occupied in 1967 (the annex text fixes completion “no later than 1 June 1977”), possible temporary peace-keeping forces, an end to new settlements and withdrawal from post-1967 settlements, UN takeover of the evacuated territories and their handover to the PLO, and UN assistance in establishing communications between Gaza and the West Bank and in consolidating the Palestinian entity (lines 1220-1250 approx.; annex VI, lines 1718-1794 approx.).

  • The Security Council considered a draft resolution affirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right of return and the right to national independence and sovereignty in Palestine; it received 10 votes in favour, 1 against (United States) and 4 abstentions and failed due to the veto (notes 109/, 110/; lines 1276-1286 approx.). The Council took up the Committee’s report again in October 1977 and adjourned without taking any action (lines 1288-1300 approx.).

  • In Part III, the General Assembly repeatedly endorsed the Committee’s recommendations and urged the Security Council to do so; support rose from 98 in favour to 16 against with 32 abstentions in 1980 to 126 in favour to 2 against with 19 abstentions in 1983, and resolution ES-7/2 authorized the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures towards implementation of the recommendations in paragraphs 59 to 72 of the Committee’s report. In its report to the thirty-eighth session the Committee considered the Geneva Declaration on Palestine and the Programme of Action for the Achievement of Palestinian Rights of great value, unanimously supported them, and recommended resolute action through the Security Council and concrete actions to convene an international peace conference on the Middle East (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part III (1978-1983), lines 151-162, 357-361).

  • Part V of the United Nations study records the Committee in 1989-2000 as the only body within the United Nations exclusively devoted to the question of Palestine, supporting a comprehensive, just and lasting solution, first promoting the international peace conference call and later the Madrid and Oslo processes, while reaffirming Israel’s obligations as the occupying Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention; its novel activities included assistance seminars, an annual training programme for Palestinian Authority staff, establishing UNISPAL, support for the UNCCP records project completed in 2000, the June 1997 thirtieth-anniversary meeting, and promotion of Bethlehem 2000 (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part V (1989-2000), PDF p.7-8, 15).

  • Part V of the United Nations study records the Committee’s work through section II’s close and section III: its spearheading of attention to closures (Chairman’s letter of 28 May 1993, A/47/959-S/25862); its Chairman’s statement at the Council’s 28 February 1995 meeting that settlements contravened article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and resolutions 446, 452 and 465; its alarm at the September 1996 tunnel opening and the Chairman’s letter of 26 September 1996 (A/51/418-S/1996/795); its deploring of the Jabal Abu Ghneim decision (letter of 28 February 1997, A/51/812-S/1997/172); its participation in the tenth emergency special session debates; its alarm at settler activity since the Camp David summit (A/55/35, para. 20); and its Chairman’s appeal of 2 October 2000 for international protection (A/55/440-S/2000/936) (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part V (1989-2000), PDF p.28, 31-35, 40).

Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part II (1947-1977), Médoune Fall, UN General Assembly Resolution 3236, Right of Return, Self-determination, Palestine Liberation Organization

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