Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Closes One Hundred and Sixteenth Session, Issues Concluding Observations on Burundi, Guatemala, Maldives, New Zealand, Sweden and Tunisia

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon closed its one hundred and sixteenth session, during which it reviewed the reports of Burundi, Guatemala, Maldives, New Zealand, Sweden and Tunisia.  The Committee’s concluding observations for the six country reviews conducted during the session are available on the session’s webpage.

In the closing plenary, Chinsung Chung, Committee Rapporteur, presented the highlights of the session.  She said the session was formally opened by Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Representative of the Secretary-General and Director of the Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who paid tribute to the Committee’s important work in promoting and protecting the human rights of all people without discrimination.  He emphasised that, sixty years after its adoption, the Convention remained as relevant as ever, with racial injustice, inequality, hate speech and intolerance alarmingly on the rise in many places, amplified by new technologies.

During this session, Ms. Chung reported, the Committee examined the reports of Maldives, Guatemala, Sweden, Burundi, New Zealand and Tunisia.  The Committee thanked all the high-level delegations for the fruitful and interactive dialogues, and acknowledged the valuable contributions of the national human rights institutions of Burundi, Maldives, New Zealand and Sweden, as well as civil society organizations and human rights defenders, whose submissions and briefings provided essential information for the reviews.

During the session, the Committee also adopted lists of issues prior to reporting for Japan and Panama, and reviewed follow-up reports from Bolivia, Mexico, Moldova, San Marino and Viet Nam.  Ms. Chung 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. Chung reported that the Committee had adopted its joint general recommendations 38 and 39, together with the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, providing general guidelines for eradicating xenophobia towards migrants and other perceived as such.  Advanced unedited versions in English, French and Spanish were posted on the Committee’s webpage. During, the session, the Committee also continued discussing the draft general recommendation on reparations for the injustices of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, their treatment as chattel, and the ongoing harms to people of African descent, led by Rapporteur Gay McDougall. 

Ms. Chung recalled that on 4 December, the Committee held a high-level commemorative event marking the sixtieth anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.  The event provided an opportunity to reflect on how past progress and experiences could guide current and future efforts to address persistent and emerging challenges, such as the legacies of slavery and colonialism, the resurgence of racist hate speech and xenophobic discourse, the adverse impact of new digital technologies, and the consequences of environmental degradation and climate change on communities most affected by racial discrimination.  It also highlighted the vital contributions of regional organizations, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders in advancing the objectives of the Convention and combatting racial discrimination over the past six decades.

Under the early warning and urgent action procedure, Ms. Chung reported, the Committee considered 31 submissions from civil society organizations, as well as replies by States parties.  It adopted two decisions, the first regarding the Chagossian people in Mauritius and the United Kingdom, and the second on the situation in Sudan, and considered nine letters addressed to States parties under this procedure.

Further, Ms. Chung said, the Committee adopted a decision on an individual complaint against North Macedonia, finding violations of several provisions of the Convention.  It also reviewed the follow-up information presented by the rapporteur concerning the ad hoc conciliation commission’s report on inter-State communication and decided to issue a press statement on the matter.

In his closing remarks, Michal Balcerzak, Committee Chairperson, said this had been a very productive and intense session.  The Committee had achieved a lot during the session, despite the difficulties it faced, and could be proud of its achievements.  Due to the financial situation, the Committee had been forced to cancel one session planned for this year and shorten another.  However, the Committee had stayed true to its mandate towards the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

Mr. Balcerzak paid tribute to outgoing Committee members Gay McDougall, Noureddin Amir and Yeung Kam John Yeung Sik Yuen, who he said were very experienced and long-serving members of the Committee.  He thanked them for their enormous contributions to the Committee’s activities and mandate.

Mr. Balcerzak also said that this was the last session that he would chair, as his term as Chairperson was coming to an end.  He said it had been a great honour to chair the Committee over the last five sessions. He thanked all colleagues for their cooperation, advice and friendship, and the Committee’s secretariat for its dedication and support.

In closing, Mr. Balcerzak thanked the Committee Experts, who had all contributed significantly to the Committee’s work throughout the session, and all other persons who had contributed to the smooth execution of the Committee’s work.

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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