Overview
On 15 February, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held its first meeting of 2019 to elect the Bureau and adopt the Programme of Work. The Secretary-General, accompanied by the Chef de Cabinet, presided over the election and delivered a statement. ASG Miroslav Jenča represented DPPA.
As expected, all the current members of the Bureau were re-elected by acclamation:
Chair – H.E. Mr. Cheikh Niang, Permanent Representative of Senegal;
Vice-Chairs: H.E. Ms. Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, Chargé d’affaires of Cuba; H.E. Mr. Dian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia;
H.E. Mr. Neville Melvin Gertze, Permanent Representative of Namibia; H.E. Mr. Jaime Hermida Castillo, Permanent Representative of Nicaragua;
Rapporteur: H.E. Mr. Carmelo Inguanez, Permanent Representative of Malta (until 15 May 2019).
Since the incoming Permanent Representative of Afghanistan, Ms. Adela Raz, would be taking up her post in New York in the coming days, her election as Vice-Chair was deferred to the next Committee meeting.
The newly elected Chair and Vice-Chairs, along with Ecuador, Tunisia, Bangladesh, South Africa, Morocco and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), delivered statements in support of the Committee and called for a collective process leading to a two-State solution of the question of Palestine and just and lasting peace. Several Committee members also informed about bilateral and multilateral efforts to advance a peaceful solution.
The draft Programme of Work of the Committee for 2019 (A/AC.183/2019/L.2) was adopted.
A representative of Amnesty International briefed (via video-conference from East-Jerusalem) on the organization’s latest report on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory titled “Destination: Occupation digital tourism and Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
The Chair informed about upcoming activities of the Committee:
– Annual “Briefing session for delegates” at UNHQ on the mandate and work of the Committee and the Division, 26 February at 3.00 p.m. in conference room 5;
– Chair’s participation in the 46th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), 1-2 March in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;
– Committee Delegation visit to the European Union and Belgium on 4-6 March;
– Committee side event on 7 March at UNHQ, on the margin of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), featuring the screening of a documentary film titled “Naila and the Uprising” on the role of Palestinian women during the first intifada, followed by a discussion with some of the protagonists and other panelists.