Ad Hoc Committee on Scope of

 Legal Protection under Convention

 on Safety of UN Personnel

AD HOC COMMITTEE CHARGED WITH STRENGTHENING LEGAL PROTECTION

FOR INTERNATIONAL PERSONNEL CONCLUDES ONE-WEEK SESSION

The Ad Hoc Committee charged with strengthening the legal regime for the security of international personnel this afternoon adopted, as orally amended, its draft report and concluded its one-week Headquarters session.

Through the report’s adoption (document A/AC.264/L.9), the Committee referred it for consideration by the General Assembly and, pursuant to Assembly resolution 59/47, recommended that work to expand the scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, including by means of legal instrument, continue during the Assembly’s sixtieth session within the framework of the Sixth Committee (Legal), taking into account the progress made in the Ad Hoc Committee.  The Committee also recommended that a proposal submitted by Costa Rica, to be annexed to the report, be forwarded for consideration by the Working Group.

Mahmoud Samy (Egypt), Rapporteur of the Ad Hoc Committee, introduced the report, saying that, in addition to its report of last year and that of the Working Group of the Sixth Committee of the fifty-ninth session (document A/C.6/59/L.9) containing Costa Rica’s revised proposal, it also had before it a proposal for discussion by China, Japan, Jordan and New Zealand (document A/AC.264/2005/DP.1), as well as other oral and written proposals by delegations.  The report would have an annex containing the revised Chairman’s text, as well.  The final report, to complete the record of documents, would also contain a proposal by Venezuela.

The Committee adopted each paragraph of the report before adopting the document as a whole.

Proposing amendments to the text were the representatives of Costa Rica, China, Nigeria, Guatemala, Syria, Netherlands, Cuba, Chile, Jordan and Venezuela.

Formally known as the Ad Hoc Committee on the Scope of Legal Protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, the Ad Hoc Committee was established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 56/89 of December 2001 as an expression of its concern at the rising toll of casualties and increasing dangers faced by United Nations staff.

The Convention, adopted by the Assembly in 1994, entered into force on 15 January 1999.  It prohibits any attack against United Nations and associated personnel, their equipment and premises, and imposes upon States the obligation to ensure the safety and security of such personnel.

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