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

BACKGROUND RELEASE
HR/99/46
19 May 1999


The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories was established in December 1968 by General Assembly resolution 2443 (XXIII).

The Special Committee is composed of three Member States: Sri Lanka (Chairman), Senegal and Malaysia. Sri Lanka is represented by John de Saram, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. Senegal is represented by Absa Claude Diallo, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Malaysia is represented by Hasmy Agam, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

The occupied territories within the scope of the Special Committee’s reference are: the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.

The Special Committee will be in Amman, Cairo and Damascus from 19 to 30 May 1999 to receive views as to conditions in the occupied territories affecting human rights from those knowledgeable as to the occupied territories. The Special Committee met in Geneva on 17 and 18 May, and will return for meetings on 30 May and 1 June.

The report of the Special Committee to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session last year is contained in the document A/53/661 of 11 November 1998. The Special Committee will be reporting to the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly this year.