UN General Assembly Resolutions: Resolution 40/201

The General Assembly,

Recalling the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, 1976,1/ and the relevant recommendations for national action 2/ adopted by Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements,

Recalling also its resolution 39/169 of 17 December 1984,

Taking note of Commission on Human Settlements resolution 8/3 of 10 May 1985,3/

Gravely alarmed by the continuation of the Israeli settlement policies, which have been declared null and void and a major obstacle to peace,

Recognizing the need to identify priority development projects needed for improving the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories,

1. Takes note with concern of the report of the Secretary-General on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories;4/

2. Takes note also of the statement made on 25 October 1985 by the observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization;5/

3. Rejects the Israeli plans and actions intended to change the demographic composition of the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly the increase and expansion of the Israeli settlements, and other plans and actions creating conditions leading to the displacement and exodus of Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territories;

4. Expresses its alarm at the deterioration, as a result of the Israeli occupation, in the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967;

5. Affirms that the Israeli occupation is contradictory to the basic requirements for the social and economic development of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories;

6. Requests the Secretary-General:

(a) To organize, by April 1987, a seminar on priority development projects needed for improving the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, including a comprehensive general housing programme, as recommended in resolution 8/3 of the Commission on Human Settlements;

(b) To make the necessary preparations for the seminar, providing for the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization;

(c) To invite experts to present papers to the seminar;

(d) To invite also relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations;

(e) To report to the General Assembly at its forty-first session, through the Economic and Social Council, on the preparations for the seminar;

(f) To report to the General Assembly at its forty-second session, through the Economic and Social Council, on the seminar.

* * *

1/ Report of Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Vancouver, 31 May-11 June 1976 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.76.IV.7 and corrigendum), chap. I.

2/ Ibid., chap. II.

3/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fortieth Session, Supplement No. 8, (A/40/8 and Corr.1), annex I.

4/ A/40/373-E/1985/99.

5/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fortieth Session, Second Committee, 17th meeting, paras. 93-99.

Sources: The United Nations