Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban ki-moon, on
February 4, 2014, requested for inclusion as an additional item in the agenda
for the UN’s 68th session the “Investigation into the conditions and
circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Dag Hammarskjold and of members
of the party accompanying him.” UN Secretary-General Hammarskjold died in an
airplane crash in September, 1961 during a diplomatic trip to Africa.
This agenda addition occurred as a result of the report of a
special, independent, informal commission of inquiry that was recently
established and funded by individuals from various countries. The responsibility
of this new commission was “to provide an opinion on whether there was new
evidence that would justify the United Nations reopening” an earlier inquiry.
The commission concluded that there was enough new evidence to justify such a
reopening. It stated that there was “persuasive evidence that the aircraft [in
which Hammarskjold was a passenger] was subjected to some sort of attack…” The
commission’s report was presented at the Peace Palace in The Hague in
September, 2013.
After the airplane crash in 1961 there were three inquiries
into the causes of the crash, including a 1962 one by the United Nations, but
the results of these investigations were inconclusive – they cited pilot error
or some sort of sabatoge as possible explanations.
The unofficial commission was composed of Ambassador Hans
Corell of Sweden, Judge Richard Goldstone of South Africa, Justice Wilhelmina
Thomassen of the Netherlands, and chaired by Sir Stephen Sedley of the United
Kingdom. Ambassador Corell and Judge Goldstone are regular contributors to the International
Judicial Monitor.
For further information about the informal commission and
the 1961 death of Secretary-General Hammarskjold, see Judge Goldstone’s Special
Report in the Summer 2013 issue of the Monitor. Click here to see this article.
International
Judicial Monitor