CEIRPP – France’s response – Note by the Chairman

Note by the Chairman

Addendum

The substantive portion of a reply received from France to the Secretary-General's letter dated 4 February 1977 is reproduced below in conformity with Committee's decision.

FRANCE

[Original: French]

[5 May 1977]

Just as it abstained on General Assembly resolution 3376 (XXX) on the establishment of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, for the reasons explained by the Permanent Representative of Italy 3 speaking as the representative of the country then exercising the presidency of the European Community (A/PV.2399, pp. 42-45), France abstained on resolution 31/20, in which the General Assembly took note of the report of the Committee and endorsed the recommendations contained therein.  The reasons for that abstention are given in the statement made by the representative of the Netherlands on behalf of the nine member countries of the European Community at the seventy-seventh meeting of the General Assembly (A/31/PV.77, P. 27).

The French Government has repeatedly stressed that the question of Palestinian rights is one of the principal elements to be taken into consideration in any just and lasting Middle East settlement.  In this connexion the Mission points out that statements of France's position with regard to the question of Palestine were listed in the note addressed to the Secretariat by the Mission on 22 March 1976.  The Secretariat might also suggest that the Committee refer to the following statements:

Statement "by the Permanent Representative of France at the ninth meeting of the Security Council on 25 June 1976 (S/PV.1934 pp. 23-32).

Explanation of vote by the Permanent Representative of Prance at the 1938th meeting of the Security Council on 29 June 1976 (S/PV.1938, pp.63-66);

Statement "by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on behalf of the nine member States of the European Community at the seventh meeting of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly on 28 September 1976 (A/31/PV.7, pp. 22-25),

Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France at the ninth meeting of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly on 29 September 1976 (A/31/PV.9; PP. 37-38);

Statement by the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on behalf of the nine member States of the European Community at the seventy-first meeting of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly on 18 November 1976 (A/31/PV.71, pp. 63-67).

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