UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON QUESTION OF PALESTINE

 

To Be Held in Quito, Ecuador, 25–26 March

 

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine in Quito, Ecuador, on 25 and 26 March, at Swissôtel Quito. The theme of the Meeting is “Engaging for peace — the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”.

Ricardo Patiño, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, representing the host Government; Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, representing the Secretary-General of the United Nations; Abdou Salam Diallo, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; and Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine to the United Nations, representing President Abbas will open the Meeting.  The full programme and complete list of speakers will be available at http://www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/calendar.

Taking place in the context of the ongoing renewed round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the Meeting will review the current opportunities and obstacles in advancing peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and will examine the support by Latin American and Caribbean countries for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine.

Meeting participants will also examine the role of non-governmental actors in Latin America and the Caribbean in promoting a permanent settlement of the conflict, including the civil society initiatives and youth engagement in the region, for ending the conflict, and South-South cooperation in support of Palestine’s socioeconomic development.

The Meeting will feature a screening of the award-winning documentary "5 Broken Cameras", with film director Emad Burnat present for a discussion following the screening.  The International Meeting will be followed, on 27 March, by a United Nations Meeting of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, also at the conference site.  The theme is “Engaging civil society in Latin America and the Caribbean for the two‑State solution”.

A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday, 25 March at 12:30 p.m. at the Swissôtel Quito.  Registered media representatives will have the opportunity to also arrange individual interviews with members of the Committee delegation and participating speakers, and to take part in the discussion period at the end of each plenary.

The official languages of the Meeting will be English and Spanish. 

The Division for Palestinian Rights will regularly provide Meeting updates on its website (www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/calendar), Facebook (www.facebook.com/UN.palestinianrights) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/unispal) via #UNPalrights and #2014forPalestine.  Questions to the speakers could be submitted by including in the tweet #UNPalrights, #2014forPalestine and the name of the speaker to whom the question is directed.

The Chairman’s summary as well as the full report of the Meeting’s proceedings will be issued, in due course, as a publication of the Division for Palestinian Rights.

Contact: dpr-meeting@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record