Human rights/Right of the Palestinian people to self-determination – GA debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly
Sixty-third session

65th plenary meeting
Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 3 p.m.
New York

The meeting was called to order at 3.25 p.m.

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Agenda item 64 (continued) 

Promotion and protection of human rights

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  Mr. Abdelaziz (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic ): …

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  The Arab States believe that a serious international dialogue should continue in order to strike the balance necessary for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression in tandem with the universal right to belong to different religions in various societies without distinction, to practise their religious rituals and to freely preserve their identity without restrictions. That approach similarly requires a stronger commitment to respecting human rights while countering terrorism on the basis of existing international commitments, the least of which is the commitment to the comprehensive and integrated implementation of all aspects of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

  Whereas it is essential to enhance the rule of law in order to ensure the protection of human rights as stipulated in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is incumbent upon the international community to step up collective efforts to meet the pledges and protect and realize the inalienable right of peoples under occupation to self-determination.

  In this regard, the States members of the League of Arab States reaffirm that the pursuit of universal respect for human rights for all and the rights of peoples will not materialize unless the international community totally divests itself of selectivity, politicization and double standards in dealing with the question of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and other Arab peoples that are suffering under foreign occupation, including those of the occupied Arab territories in Syria and Lebanon. Such rights will succeed only when the international community acts with firm determination to end violations by the occupying Power of its commitments under international law, most importantly the Fourth Geneva Convention.

  The Arab States consider the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an occasion for reiterating the international commitment to supporting the aspirations of the Palestinian people to enjoy their legitimate right to self-determination to the fullest and to enabling them to establish their independent State, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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The meeting rose at 6.35 p.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.