Summary
The General Assembly’s resolution of 22 November 1974, adopted at the same 2296th plenary meeting as Resolution 3236, which invites the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly in the capacity of observer, invites it to participate as observer in all international conferences convened under the auspices of the General Assembly, considers that it is entitled to participate as an observer in the sessions and work of all international conferences convened under the auspices of other organs of the United Nations, and requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps for implementation (Resolution 3237 (XXIX): Observer status for the Palestine Liberation Organization (22 November 1974), PDF p.1).
What the file is
The resolution as printed in the General Assembly’s Official Records, twenty-ninth session, printed p.4, following Resolution 3236 (XXIX) in full on the same page and preceded by the tail of an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution. 1 PDF page, about 804 words in the text copy counting the whole page. The same printed page, in a second copy, is also the file for Resolution 3236 in this batch; the two text copies differ only in OCR noise. The text copy’s OCR is heavily garbled (“Pnlet1ti11e” for Palestine, “l!.S” for as, “Pa,lestine”); the operative wording was checked against the original’s printed page, which reads the passages cleanly.
Section by section
- Preceding material (PDF p.1). The tail of an IAEA resolution (2277th plenary meeting, 5 November 1974) and Resolution 3236 (XXIX), Question of Palestine, in full, ending at the 2296th plenary meeting, 22 November 1974. Resolution 3236 is the subject of its own source page in this batch.
- Preamble (PDF p.1). Having considered the question of Palestine; taking into consideration the universality of the United Nations prescribed in the Charter; recalling its resolution 3102 (XXVIII) of 12 December 1973; taking into account Economic and Social Council resolutions 1835 (LVI) of 14 May 1974 and 1840 (LVI) of 15 May 1974; noting that the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, the World Population Conference and the World Food Conference have in effect invited the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in their respective deliberations; noting also that the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea has invited the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in its deliberations as an observer.
- Operative paragraph 1 (PDF p.1). Invites the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly in the capacity of observer.
- Operative paragraph 2 (PDF p.1). Invites the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in the sessions and the work of all international conferences convened under the auspices of the General Assembly in the capacity of observer.
- Operative paragraph 3 (PDF p.1). Considers that the Palestine Liberation Organization is entitled to participate as an observer in the sessions and the work of all international conferences convened under the auspices of other organs of the United Nations.
- Operative paragraph 4 (PDF p.1). Requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps for implementation of the present resolution.
- Adoption (PDF p.1). 2296th plenary meeting, 22 November 1974. No vote figures are given.
Key passages
- “Invites the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly in the capacity of observer” (operative paragraph 1, PDF p.1).
Evidence the work relies on
A General Assembly resolution, not an evidentiary work. It relies on the precedents its preamble assembles — resolution 3102 (XXVIII), Economic and Social Council resolutions 1835 (LVI) and 1840 (LVI), and the invitations in effect extended to the Palestine Liberation Organization by the Diplomatic Conference on international humanitarian law, the World Population Conference, the World Food Conference and the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea — none reproduced in the file.
Analysis
The resolution is institutional, not declaratory: where its companion Resolution 3236 (XXIX): Question of Palestine (22 November 1974), adopted at the same meeting, specifies the Palestinian people’s rights, this text gives their representative a standing procedural place — observer participation in the Assembly itself, in Assembly-convened conferences by invitation, and in conferences of other United Nations organs as an entitlement. It grants no vote, membership or State status, terms the text does not use, and it rests its case on the Charter’s universality and on conference precedents rather than on the rights language of 3236.
People, organizations, places and events
UN General Assembly Resolution 3237, Palestine Liberation Organization
Concepts
How it relates to other sources
Adopted at the same meeting and on the same printed page as Resolution 3236 (XXIX): Question of Palestine (22 November 1974), whose preamble names the Palestine Liberation Organization “the representative of the Palestinian people”; this resolution supplies the observer machinery that description implies. The existing UN General Assembly Resolution 3236 entity page records, from Part II of the United Nations study, that the Assembly simultaneously conferred observer status on the PLO by resolution 3237 (XXIX) with a vote the study’s note gives as 95 in favour, 17 against, 19 abstentions — figures this file itself does not give, held there as that study’s account. Resolution 3369 (XXX) of 10 October 1975, on the same printed page as Resolution 3376 (XXX): Question of Palestine (10 November 1975), extends the same observer form to the Islamic Conference.
Open questions
- The file gives no vote figures for Resolution 3237; the study’s figures (95-17-19) are recorded on the Resolution 3236 entity page as that study’s account.
- The content of the recalled resolution 3102 (XXVIII) and of the Economic and Social Council resolutions 1835 and 1840 (LVI) is not given in the file.
- What observer participation entitles the PLO to do in the Assembly’s work is not specified beyond participation in its sessions and work.
Coverage
PDF p.1 of 1, read in full.