Statement by Bureau of Palestinian Rights Committee on appointment

 

of experts to Board of United Nations Register of Damage

 

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People notes the appointment by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of three prominent international experts as members of the Board of the United Nations Register of Damage caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.  The Bureau of the Committee appreciates the announcement that the Board is expected to commence its mandated work on 14 May 2007 in a meeting at the United Nations Office at Vienna.

This decision is an important step towards the implementation of General Assembly resolution A/RES/ES-10/17 of 15 December 2006, which requested the setting up of an office of the Register of Damage by 15 June 2007.  It is, at the same time, a concrete measure to implement one of the conclusions of the International Court of Justice expressed in its advisory opinion of 9 July 2004 on the legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem.

The Bureau of the Committee expresses the hope that the office of the Register of Damage will begin implementing General Assembly resolution A/RES/ES-10/17 without delay, thus fulfilling its important General Assembly mandate.

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For information media • not an official record