Human rights situation in the OT – SecGen report

QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OCCUPIED

ARAB TERRITORIES, INCLUDING PALESTINE

Report of the Secretary-General

1. At its fifty-fourth session, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 1998/2, entitled "Human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan".  In paragraph 6 of resolution 1998/2, the Commission requested the Secretary­General to bring that resolution to the attention of all Governments, the competent United Nations organs, the specialized agencies, regional intergovernmental organizations and international humanitarian organizations and to give it the widest possible publicity, and to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fifth session.

2. In accordance with the requests of the Commission, the Secretary-General brought resolution 1998/2 to the attention of all Governments, by a note verbale dated 15 May 1998.  It was also communicated to the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories and to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

3. Furthermore, the resolution was transmitted to all the specialized agencies and to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.  In addition, the resolution was brought to the attention of competent regional intergovernmental organizations and international humanitarian organizations.

4. The Department of Public Information undertook the following activities:

(a) Continued to provide press coverage of the meetings of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.  Extensive press and audio-visual coverage was also provided for the meetings of the Commission on Human Rights.  The methods used by the Department to provide this coverage included the production of press releases, publications, television news packages and radio programmes, and the organization of press briefings and briefings for the public.

(b) Continued to disseminate United Nations information materials, documents and press releases on the activities of the Special Committee and the Commission on Human Rights through the global network of United Nations Information Centres and Services in 69 countries, the 364 depository libraries in 141 countries and electronically through the Internet.  The Department also continued to make information materials available to NGOs through its Resource Centres in New York and Geneva.

(c) Provided press coverage of the Special Committees field mission to Egypt, Jordan and Syria from 21 to 31 July 1998.  Press releases about the activities of the Committee were issued at Headquarters and the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Geneva, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Cairo and UNDP offices in Amman and Damascus; UNIS/UNIC Beirut (Lebanon) assisted with media coverage during the Committees mission in that region.

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