Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Closes One Hundred and Seventeenth Session After Adopting Concluding Observations on Burkina Faso, Cuba, Cyprus, Serbia, Slovenia and Uzbekistan

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon closed its one hundred and seventeenth session, during which it reviewed the reports of Burkina Faso, Cuba, Cyprus, Serbia, Slovenia and Uzbekistan.  The Committee’s concluding observations for the six country reviews conducted during the session would be made available on the session’s webpage in the coming days.

In the closing plenary, Verene Albertha Shepherd, Committee Expert, on behalf of Committee Rapporteur Carla Ivette Pousa Caride, presented the highlights of the session.  She said the session was formally opened by Wan Hea Lee, Chief of Section One, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who underscored the urgency of the Committee’s mandate amid a global regression in human rights, marked by the erosion of rule of law and growing use of force.  She recalled that this year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, highlighting the gap between international commitments and lived realities.

She emphasised the Committee’s important role in holding States accountable through State party reviews and advancing normative guidance such as the draft General Recommendation 40 on reparations.  She described the Committee’s work on the General Recommendation as a landmark undertaking, reinforced by renewed global calls for reparatory justice following the General Assembly’s recognition of the trafficking in enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity.  She further noted the importance of the Committee’s recent actions under its inter-State and early warning and urgent action procedures.

In concluding, she raised serious concerns about the sustainability of the treaty body system due to resource constraints and reduced reporting, warning of their impact on human rights protection.

During this session, Ms. Shepherd reported, the Committee examined the reports of Burkina Faso, Cuba, Cyprus, Serbia, Slovenia and Uzbekistan.  The Committee thanked all the high-level delegations for the fruitful and interactive dialogues and acknowledged the valuable contributions of the national human rights institution of Slovenia, as well as civil society organizations and human rights defenders, whose submissions and briefings provided essential information for the reviews.  Their commitment to the Committee’s mandate was highly valued.

During the session, the Committee also adopted list of issues prior to reporting for Tonga, and reviewed follow-up reports from Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Qatar and Turkmenistan.  Ms. Shepherd thanked these States parties for their reports and invited them to consider the Committee’s recommendations carefully and include the steps taken to implement them in their next periodic reports.

Ms. Shepherd reported that the Committee had continued its consideration of the draft General Recommendation 40 on reparations for the harms and continuing violations inflicted by colonialism, racialised chattel slavery, and the trafficking of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic and other routes, led by Rapporteur Pela Boker-Wilson, who took over from former member Gay McDougall.   The Committee also agreed that, after the adoption of the General Recommendation 40, it would begin preparations for General Recommendations on communities discriminated on the bases of work and descent, indigenous peoples and racism in sport.

Under the early warning and urgent action procedure, Ms. Shepherd said, the Committee considered 16 submissions from civil society organizations, as well as replies by State parties.  It adopted three statements and endorsed three letters addressed to State parties under this procedure.

Further, Ms. Shepherd said, the Committee adopted four decisions on individual communications this session, finding violations in three cases and discontinuing consideration of one communication.  It also adopted its guidelines on the third-party interventions to individual communications.

She further reported that, on Thursday, 30 April, the Committee held a meeting with States parties in Palais Wilson in Geneva.  The Committee thanked all States parties’ representatives who attended and contributed to this event.

In closing, Ms. Shepherd said that, despite the limitations, uncertainties and challenges, the Committee’s work continued to have a positive impact.  It had been essential in increasing awareness on the need to prevent hate speech and violence.  The Committee, she said, had raised standards and insisted on one of the most fundamental freedoms of all human beings: freedom from racial discrimination.

In his closing remarks, Gün Kut, Committee Chairperson, said this had been a very productive and intense session.  He thanked the Committee Experts and all persons who had contributed to the session for their hard work and dedication.  The Committee had achieved a lot during the session, despite the challenges it faced, and could be proud of its achievements.  It had stayed true to its mandate towards the elimination of racial discrimination wherever it occurred, he said.

Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. Other documents related to the session can be found here.

Due to the current financial situation, the dates of the Committee’s next session are not yet confirmed.  All information, including the proposed programme of work, will be made available on the Committee’s webpage when confirmed.

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