October 18, 2005

Draft Resolution on The situation of and assistance to Palestinian children

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For the past three years children's rights were one of the most obvious examples of the chokehold of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on the UN. There were three UN General Assembly resolutions on the rights of the child – one on the rights of the child, one on the girl child, and one on Palestinian children. Two years ago Israel attempted to introduce a resolution on Israeli children, but was forced to withdraw it in response to Egyptian amendments (guaranteed to pass) to delete the word "Israeli" before every mention of the word "child." This year, however, the European Union insisted on a change. The result was the withdrawal on Monday of the resolution on Palestinian children, with concomitant changes to a resolution on assistance to the Palestinians to be adopted in the General Assembly in a couple of weeks. The details of what was given in exchange for withdrawal have yet to become public. It is clear, however, that firm European Union rejection of Palestinian - League of Arab states - OIC demands in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict has the potential to bring about real change in the UN agenda. If only such backbone was the rule instead of the exception.