SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON ISRAELI PRACTICES TO VISIT EGYPT, JORDAN AND SYRIA

19 June 2008

The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories will visit Egypt from 23 to 27 June, Jordan from 27 June to 1 July, and Syria from 1 to 5 July 2008.

The Special Committee was established in December 1968 by General Assembly resolution 2443 (XXIII). It is composed of three Member States: Sri Lanka (Chairman), Malaysia and Senegal. Sri Lanka is currently represented by Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of that country to the United Nations in New York. Senegal is represented by Babacar Carlos Mbaye, Permanent Representative of that country to the United Nations in Geneva. Malaysia will be represented by Zainol Zainuddin, Deputy Permanent Representative of that country to the United Nations in New York.

The territories considered as occupied territories for the purposes of the Special Committee’s mandate are the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.

Since its establishment, the Special Committee has repeatedly been denied cooperation by the Government of Israel or access to the occupied territories. The Committee has nonetheless benefited from the cooperation and information provided by representatives from the Governments of countries visited. The information gathered during the Committee’s hearings, from witnesses having first-hand and recent experience of the human rights situation in the occupied territories, from Governmental representatives, and from a wide range of other interlocutors is taken into account in the Committee's annual reports to the General Assembly. The Committee formulates conclusions containing its evaluation of the situation and makes recommendations to the General Assembly in this regard.

The Special Committee's mandate was renewed for an additional year on 17 December 2007 by General Assembly resolution 62/106. The most recent findings of the Special Committee are contained in its report to the General Assembly (document A/62/360) of 24 September 2007.

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For use of the information media; not an official record