Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Opens One Hundred and Eighteenth Session in Geneva
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning opened its one hundred and eighteenth session in Geneva, during which it will review anti-discrimination efforts by Finland, Honduras, India and Kuwait under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Committee heard from a representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and adopted the session’s agenda.
Mahamane Cisse Gouro, Chief of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, opened the session. Mr. Cisse Gouro said the Committee was meeting at a critical moment, with the past year bringing accelerating global crises, serious human rights challenges and growing threats to the international human rights system.
Quoting the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ remarks at the sixty-second session of the Human Rights Council, Mr. Cisse Gouro said an unprecedented, shameless onslaught against international law was causing appalling human suffering. The High Commissioner reminded that “the Universal Declaration and the core treaties were ever more important” and called on everyone to promote and protect human rights – and do everything possible to strengthen their legal foundations. Mr. Cisse Gouro paid tribute to the Committee for its steadfast efforts to monitor the implementation of the Convention, and for its significant contribution to advancing the human rights of all people, without discrimination.
Mr. Cisse Gouro said this year marked the sixtieth anniversaries of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the twentieth anniversary of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances; and the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It also marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. A high-level meeting on mobilising global public support for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration would be held on 28 September during the eighty-first session of the General Assembly. Mr. Cisse Gouro said the Office of the High Commissioner would work closely with the treaty bodies to advance the recommendations contained in the report on the contribution of the treaty bodies to the implementation of the Declaration.
At a time of profound uncertainty, Mr. Cisse Gouro said, cooperation for human rights also needed to be strengthened. The High Commissioner had launched the Global Alliance for Human Rights, a multi-stakeholder initiative bringing together people across sectors and generations. Anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and building towards its eightieth anniversary in 2028, the Alliance sought to broaden support, strengthen collaboration and mobilise collective action for human rights.
Reporting on recent developments related to combatting racial discrimination, Mr. Cisse Gouro said that at its sixty-third session in September, the Human Rights Council would consider two important reports by the High Commissioner: the first addressing racism, racial discrimination, law enforcement and the implementation of the High Commissioner’s Agenda towards Transformative Change; and the second examining education-related measures and practices to prevent racism, racial discrimination and intolerance.
He also reported that the Office of the High Commissioner had continued its work on reparatory justice for people of African descent, including through a series of practical explainers on reparatory justice, environmental justice, gender-transformative approaches and memorialisation. The Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance devoted her annual report to the Council’s sixty-second session to the contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in sport, while the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, in his report to the Council’s sixty-third session, examined how States had addressed violations of the sexual and reproductive health and rights of indigenous women and girls in the almost two decades since the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Mr. Cisse Gouro warned that the treaty bodies continued to face unprecedented constraints. The difficult financial situation of the United Nations had had a significant impact on the human rights system, and in particular on the treaty bodies. This year, the sharp decrease in the human and financial resources of the Office of the High Commissioner had resulted in a significant reduction in the time spent on meetings and visits. The second sessions of the Committees, which had already been shortened, were confirmed only belatedly, while the third sessions were cancelled. The Office was aware of the difficulties that this situation created for the Committees' experts, States parties, civil society, national human rights institutions and all their partners.
It was in this context that the thirty-eighth annual meeting of chairpersons of human rights treaty bodies was held in Geneva in June 2026. The chairpersons discussed, inter alia, the proposals contained in the Office of the High Commissioner’s working paper to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations treaty body mechanism. The Office was currently working to revise or clarify the operational implications of the various proposals. Mr. Cisse Gouro reaffirmed the Office’s firm commitment to supporting the treaty body system in the fulfilment of its essential mandate, and thanked the Committee for its continued collaboration and support.
Mr. Cisse Gouro said the Committee had a heavy programme of work ahead of it over the next two weeks. In addition to four major reviews of States parties, it would consider the follow-up reports of seven States parties: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, Kenya, Monaco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and prepare a list of issues prior to reporting for Eritrea. The Committee would also continue its work on draft general recommendation 40 on reparations, consider cases under its early warning and urgent action procedure and examine individual communications. This was an ambitious agenda, but an agenda of real importance.
In concluding remarks, Mr. Cisse Gouro wished the Committee a fruitful, focused and productive session, saying that at a time when racial discrimination continued to threaten equality, dignity and social cohesion, the Committee’s work was not only relevant but essential.
Gün Kut, Committee Chairperson, thanked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for its work and support. However, he said every treaty body was under assault, losing authority and power all the time. This was generally represented as a result of the financial crisis experienced by the United Nations, but that was a misnomer. This “crisis”, he said, was the result of political decisions by certain Member States, which did not pay their dues at all or did not pay them on time. Representatives of Member States, when meeting with the Committee, always said that they “fully supported” the work of the treaty bodies, but support required action, not words.
Mr. Kut, in closing, said that the Committee would continue to work with the Office of the High Commissioner, counting on it for the smooth functioning of the Committee’s mandate and for strengthening the treaty body system. He expressed hope that, during the present session, the Committee would hold fruitful meetings with Kuwait, India, Honduras and Finland, and with various other stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions.
Committee Expert Verene Albertha Shepherd then took the floor to welcome the initiative of the Office of the High Commissioner to mark the important anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and to thank the Office for its support for the Committee’s work on reparations. She also welcomed that some 123 States had supported Ghana’s General Assembly resolution declaring trafficking in enslaved Africans and racialised African enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity.
Ms. Shepherd said the Committee was under attack, and there were pushbacks against what it was fighting for around the world. Committee members needed to uphold the Committee’s mandate, as there were people who depended on their voice.
Mr. Cisse Gouro, responding, said the current pushback was not only against human rights but also against the rule of law. The financial crisis being faced by the treaty bodies could only be resolved by Member States paying their dues. The Office would continue to call on States to pay their dues. It supported the noble work of the treaty bodies and counted on their support in turn. He expressed hope that the Global Alliance for Human Rights would bring human rights back to the centre of global action, and foster support for the treaty body system. Working together, the Office and the treaty bodies could make miracles, he concluded.
The programme of work and other documents related to the Committee’s one hundred and eighteenth session can be found here. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public this afternoon, Monday, 10 August at 3 p.m. to consider the combined twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth periodic reports of Kuwait (CERD/C/KWT/25-26).
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CERD26.010E