Mandate and Objectives

Mandate and Objectives2023-09-11T16:34:15-04:00

Mandate and Objectives of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise
of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

8 January 1985 - Zehdi Labib Terzi (second from left), Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization, addressing Committee first 1985 Meeting. UN Photo

The question of Palestine was first officially brought before the General Assembly in April 1947, upon a request by the United Kingdom following the termination of its League of Nations’ Mandate over Palestine. The Assembly decided to partition Palestine into two States, one Arab and one Jewish, with a special international régime for Jerusalem (resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947). Although the independence of the State of Israel was declared on 14 May 1948, the Arab State did not come into being as several wars were fought in the area and the Palestine problem continued to be discussed at the United Nations as part of the larger Middle East conflict or in its refugee or human rights aspects.

It was only in 1974, as a result of the June 1967 war and the continuing military occupation by Israel of the remainder of Mandate Palestine, that the question of Palestine was reintroduced in the Assembly’s agenda as a national question and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people were reaffirmed and specified in resolution 3236 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974, as the right to self-determination without external interference; the right to national independence and sovereignty; and the right of Palestinians to return to their homes and property, from which they had been displaced and uprooted.

In its resolution 3376 (XXX) of 10 November 1975, the General Assembly decided to establish the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and requested it to recommend to the Assembly a programme of implementation to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its rights.

In its first report submitted to the Security Council in June 1976, the Committee proposed a two-phase plan for the return of Palestinians to their homes and property; a timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories by 1 June 1977, with the provision, if necessary, of temporary peacekeeping forces to facilitate the process; an end to the establishment of settlements; recognition by Israel of the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the occupied territories pending withdrawal; and endorsement of the inherent right of Palestinians to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty in Palestine.

The Committee’s recommendations were not adopted by the Security Council, due to the negative vote of a permanent member, and have not been implemented. They were, however, endorsed by an overwhelming majority in the General Assembly, to which the Committee reports annually. The Assembly reaffirmed that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East could not be established without the attainment of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. The Assembly also requested the Committee to keep the situation relating to the question of Palestine under review and to report and make suggestions to the General Assembly or the Security Council, as appropriate, and to promote the greatest possible dissemination of information on its recommendations.

The mandates of the Committee, the Division and the Department of Global Communications were renewed on 30 November 2022 (A/RES/77/22), with amendment to review thereafter only as necessary.

Date Title Symbol
30-May-2025 600 Days of Israeli War on Gaza: UN Committee Urges Immediate, Unhindered Humanitarian Access
Sources:

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)

Type

Press Release, Press statement

29-May-2025 NGO Action News – 29 May 2025
Sources:

7amleh (NGO), Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Shabaka, B'Tselem, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), Jerusalem Fund, Law For Palestine, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Palestinian Return Centre Ltd., Peace Now, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO)

Type

NGO Action News

22-May-2025 NGO Action News – 22 May 2025
Sources:

Agence Média Palestine, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Churches for Middle East Peace, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Diakonia, Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), Gisha - Legal Centre for Freedom Movement (NGO), HaMoked, Human Rights Watch, J Street, Jerusalem Fund, Jewish Voice for Peace, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Palestine Land Society, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Palestinian Human Rights Organisations Council (PHROC), Palestinian Return Centre Ltd., Peace Now, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

Type

NGO Action News

16-May-2025 Amid States’ Negligence, Activists Working to Ensure Accountability for Israel’s Actions in Occupied Palestinian Territory, Civil Society Consultations Hear GA/PAL/1482
Sources:

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR)

Type

Press Release

15-May-2025 “History will judge our response” Statement delivered by UN Assistant Secretary-General at the 2025 Nakba Commemoration
Sources:

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

Type

Remarks, Statement

15-May-2025 “If you normalize genocide, you will have nothing left” Professor Noura Erakat at the 77th Commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba
Sources:

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)

Type

Remarks, Speech, Statement

15-May-2025 NGO Action News – 15 May 2025
Sources:

Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Association France Palestine Solidarite, Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA), Jerusalem Fund, Law For Palestine, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Palestinian Return Centre Ltd., Peace Now

Type

NGO Action News

15-May-2025 Israel Racializing Palestinians as Security Threat to Normalize Its Genocide, Scholar Says, as Palestinian Rights Committee Marks Nakba Anniversary GA/PAL/1481
Sources:

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)

Type

Press Release

08-May-2025 NGO Action News – 08 May 2025
Sources:

Agence Média Palestine, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Amnesty International, B'Tselem, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), Ir Amin (NGO), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Palestinian Return Centre Ltd., Scientists for Palestine

Type

NGO Action News

06-May-2025 Two Months Under Siege: UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Demands Immediate Lifting of Gaza Blockade and Welcomes Ongoing ICJ Proceedings
Sources:

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)

Type

Press Release, Press statement

Showing 10 documents of 20 found.

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