On 17 August 2016, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the 71st UN General Assembly to appoint an “eminent person or persons” to review the new information on the crash, and attached as annexes to his statement the responses by several member states to the UN’s earlier call for documentation. The Secretary-General urged member states to release relevant records for review. The eminent person would be in a position to determine the scope that any further inquiry or investigation should take.
Ban Ki-moon’s statement ended with the note: “This may be our last chance to find the truth. Seeking a complete understanding of the circumstances is our solemn duty to my illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld, to the other members of the party accompanying him, and to their families.”
In late December 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a Swedish resolution (GA/RES/71/26), requesting the appointment of an eminent person to review and assess any new information that might shed light on the circumstances of the plane crash.