September 25th, 2011

IADL submitted a resolution to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon arguing that the use of a veto to oppose the admission of Palestine would be in opposition to the principles of the Charter, and therefore illegal.

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers submits the below resolution to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon regarding the upcoming discussion of the admission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.

WHEREAS the question whether to recognize the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations is to be considered in the near future; and

WHEREAS it is possible that a permanent member of the Security Council may try to use a veto to try to avoid the admission of the State of Palestine; and

WHEREAS the Charter of the United Nations sets forth an international rule of law as an obligation for all states; and

WHEREAS the Article 24.2 of the United Nations Charter places in the Security Council the duty to preserve and implement the principles of the Charter; and

WHEREAS permanent members have the duty to protect the principles of the Charter against a majority which might infringe on those principles and the rule of law ; and

WHEREAS permanent members may not legally use the privilege of the veto if such use would be contrary to the duty to preserve and implement the principles of the Charter ; and

WHEREAS the application of Palestine is in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter, recognition of a Palestinian state is in accordance with the principles of the Charter in its implementation of the right of peoples to self determination, and Palestine’s right to independence in the face of Israeli Occupation in violation of Article 2.4 ; and

WHEREAS the use of a veto to oppose the admission of Palestine would be in opposition to the principles of the Charter, and therefore illegal.

THEREFORE, if a majority of the security council approves recognition of the Palestinian State, even if there is a veto by any permanent member, the General Assembly may and must vote on the admission of the Palestinian State and if approved by the General Assembly the UN must ignore the veto and admit Palestine because use of the veto in this context would be against the principles of the Charter and therefore illegal.

IADL further asks the Honorable Ban Ki Moon UN Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly to circulate this message to all members of the United Nations.

Download resolution PDF: Palestine Veto Resolution

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.