International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to be commemorated at the Palais des Nations on 8 December 2020

A hybrid Special Meeting will be held at the Palais des Nations on Tuesday, 8 December to mark the annual observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, will open the meeting with introductory remarks and will then read out the statement for the Day delivered by Secretary-General António Guterres in New York.

Speaking at the Special Meeting will be representatives of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories; the League of Arab States; the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; the Non-Aligned Movement; the African Union; non-governmental organizations accredited to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; and the State of Palestine. Messages or statements for the Day received from Heads of State or Government will be announced at the end of the meeting.

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People traditionally provides an opportunity for the international community to focus its attention on the question of Palestine. This year, due to COVID-19, the Special Meeting will be exceptionally organized in a hybrid format, with only speakers present in the room. The meeting will be webcast live on the UN Web TV platform http://webtv.un.org/.

The United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in cooperation with the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in New York, has organized a virtual exhibit entitled “The Writing is on the Wall: Annexation Past and Present”. The exhibition examines the plight of the Palestinian people, focusing on the wall built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It explores this through the words of advocates and public personalities, and through images from artists and human rights activists who have used the wall as a canvas to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Special Meeting will open at 10:30 a.m. at the Palais des Nations in room XX. It is being organized in observance of General Assembly resolution 32/40B of 2 December 1977.

M.20.004E