Israeli practices – Report of SecGen

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ISRAELI

PRACTICES AFFECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE POPULATION

OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Report of the Secretary-General

1. At its thirty-first session, the General Assembly adopted resolutions 31/106 C and D of 16 December 1976 concerning the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of occupied Territories.  In paragraph 10 of resolution 31/106 C, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General:

"(a) To render all necessary facilities to the Special Committee, including those required for its visits to the occupied territories, with a view to investigating the Israeli policies and practices referred to in the present resolution;

"(b) To continue to make available additional staff as may be necessary to assist the Special Committee in the performance of its tasks;

"(c) To ensure the widest circulation of the reports of the Special Committee, and of information regarding its activities and findings, by all means available through the Office of Public Information of the Secretariat and, where necessary, to reprint those reports of the Special Committee which are no longer available."

2. The present report is submitted in accordance with paragraph 10 (d) of resolution 31/106 C.

3. The Secretary-General continued, as in previous years, to provide the facilities required by the Special Committee.  In response to the request addressed to him by the General Assembly in paragraph 10 (b) of resolution 31/106 C, the services of an additional staff member were made available to assist the Special Committee.  in accordance with the request addressed to the Secretary-General in paragraph 6 of resolution 31/106 D, the necessary facilities were made available to the Special Committee in its undertaking of the survey of Quneitra.

4. In response to paragraph 10 (c) of General Assembly resolution 31/106 C, the Office of Public Information undertook the action outlined in the following paragraphs to ensure the widest possible dissemination of the report of the  Special Committee.

5. The proceedings of the Special Committee were given full coverage by the OPI Press Services, and press releases on those meetings were given wide circulation at Headquarters and in the field.

6. The report and proceedings of the meetings of the Special Committee were prominently covered in the Weekly News Summary, as well as in the news radio magazine The Week at the United Nations. The coverage was broadcast in 15 languages.  Additional information efforts were undertaken in programmes  specifically intended for the region of the Middle East.

7. The issue of December 1976 of the UN Chronicle, a monthly publication produced by the Office of Public Information, carried an article entitled "Report on Israeli practices:  safeguards urged for protection of human rights in occupied territories", which was based on the report of the Special Committee.

8. The Information Centres Service requested the directors of information centre to ensure the widest circulation of the report of the Special Committee, as well as other information materials relating to the activities and findings of the Committee.  Specifically, a circular memorandum was issued to all information centres, drawing their attention to public information mandates contained in resolution 2 (XXXIl), adopted by the Commission on Human Rights; the provisions of resolution 31/106 C were cabled to the directors of the centres; special attention of the directors was drawn to the resolution in a follow-up memorandum; another circular sent to the centres stressed the importance of publicity efforts on this subject during the observance of Human Rights Day.

9. Relevant documentation of the Special Committee was made available to representatives of non-governmental organizations. The Public Inquiries Unit provided copies of the report to the individuals who requested them. In addition, when preparing special packets of information material on the activities, of the United Nations related to the Middle East question, the Unit also included available information on the meetings of the Special Committee and relevant General Assembly resolutions.

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