On 9 July, the 2025 Conference on the Question of Jerusalem, organized jointly with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), took place in Dakar, Senegal. The event reflected on the challenges faced by the Palestinian people in occupied East Jerusalem in terms of displacement, dispossession and violence and provided the platform to assess the wider oppression across the OPT and for the unresolved legacy of the Nakba.
The Conference provided a space to update and coordinate on the implementation of UN General Assembly resolution ES 10-24 among the Committee and OIC Member States. Taking place ahead of the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference also offered a timely opportunity to provide a space for consolidated preparatory steps, including to coordinate actions by the Committee and the OIC as well as to hear voices from West Africa and the continent, in addressing the challenges in the context of East Jerusalem and the broader Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territory. Its key objective was for the Committee and OIC Member States to sustain the political momentum and identify practical avenues for coordinated action to end the occupation and achieve a peaceful solution of the conflict.
OPENING SESSION
H.E. Ambassador Coly Seck, Chair of the UN Palestinian Rights Committee, Permanent Representative of Senegal to the UN
H.E. Min. Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in New York
H.E. Samir Bakr, Assistant Secretary-General, Palestinian and Al-Quds Affairs, Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Ms. Barrie Freeman, DSRSG, UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel
H.E. Jean Baptiste Tine, Minister of Interior and Public Security of Senegal
PLENARY I: The Situation in Jerusalem and the wider Occupied Palestinian Territory
Mr. Munir Nusseibeh, Al Quds University Human Rights Clinic
Situation in East Jerusalem in the shadow of the Gaza War
Mr. Umar Al-Ghubari, Palestinian educator, Zochrot
Injustices inflicted on Palestinian Jerusalemites
Ms. Fatima Sheikh Ali, Field Researcher, Al-Haq
Situation in schools, hospitals, in East Jerusalem and throughout the OPT
Mr. Mahmoud Nawajaa, General Coordinator of the Palestinian BNC
Linkage of the situation in Jerusalem with the occupied West Bank
PLENARY II: States Obligations and Avenues of Action
Mr. Amr Hamzawy, Senior Fellow & Middle East Programme Director, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
OIC action at diplomatic and Member State level
Mr. Seydi Gassama, Director Amnesty International Senegal
Ongoing actions in West Africa
Ms. Zukiswa Wanner, Writer and Member of PSC Johannesburg
The Pan-African Palestine Solidarity Network
CLOSING SESSION
H.E. Min. Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in New York
Representative of Senegal
Resources
- UN Palestinian Rights Committee Chair Remarks
- Remarks by the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
- UN Secretary-General’s message
- La Question De La Palestine Ne Concerne Pas Seulement Le Peuple Palestinien, Mais La Survie De L’humanité Et Jérusalem N’est Pas Simplement Une Terre Occupée – C’est Une Identité, Une Foi Et Une Histoire Occupées