GA/PAL/1316

United Nations International Meeting of Parliamentarians in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace to Be Held in New York, 21 November

The Meeting will be convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 21 November.  The theme will be “The role of parliamentarians in ensuring respect for international law”.  The Committee believes that efforts towards a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict need to be grounded in international law and human rights in order to succeed.  There is a large body of international law applicable to the Palestinian question.  What is required now is to build a strong commitment by all stakeholders to ensure the implementation of applicable norms.  Parliamentarians have a crucial role to play in this regard.

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jens Toyberg-Frandzen representing the United Nations Secretary-General; Fodé Seck, Chairman of the Committee; Abdelrahim Barham, Member of the Palestinian National Council; Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; Nour Eddine Bouchkouj, Secretary-General of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union; and Mahmud Kilic, Secretary-General of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation will be opening the Meeting on 21 November at 10 a.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber.

Invited to the Meeting are parliamentarians representing national and regional legislatures, United Nations officials, delegates of all United Nations Members and observers, intergovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, as well as the media.  In Plenary I, United Nations officials will brief parliamentarians on the situation on the ground including in the humanitarian and human rights field, and on the status of the peace process.  In Plenary II, parliamentarians will review the international commitments of States vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue and discuss initiatives and best practices toward their implementation.  The Meeting will provide an important opportunity for parliamentarians to convey the views and concerns of their constituencies to the United Nations at large.  Shortly after the Meeting, a Chairman’s summary highlighting the proceedings will be issued.  The official languages of the Meeting will be Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The Division for Palestinian Rights will provide updates on its website, Facebook and Twitter via the hashtag #UNPalrights and #2014forPalestine.

A full programme is available at www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/calendar.htm.  For further information, please contact the Division for Palestinian Rights via e‑mail at dpr-meeting@un.org.

For information media. Not an official record.