COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONCLUDES EIGHTY-SEVENTH SESSION

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today concluded its eighty-seventh session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Colombia, Costa Rica, Niger, Suriname, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Czech Republic, Norway and the Netherlands on how those countries implement the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the eight country reports will be available on the Committee’s webpage this afternoon.

Committee Expert and Rapporteur on Follow-up, Gun Kut, presented follow-up reports concerning Belarus and Poland. Both States parties had responded to the Committee on time. Concerning Belarus, the Committee had asked about the Extremism Act, which could result in putting human rights defenders in a difficult situation; about national institutions, in which it was recommended that a fully independent human rights institution was set up; and on the issue of human trafficking in persons. On the situation of Poland, the issues involved had to do with resources provided to human rights defenders, official means to combat racism in sport and to tackle hate speech and websites promoting hatred, and discrimination against Roma. The follow-up reports containing recommendations on how to respond to the States parties responses were adopted.

Mr. Kut said the Committee also had a list of countries which had not responded to its requests for follow-up for a long time and they should discuss what to do in such cases.

In concluding remarks, the Chairperson of the Committee, Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, said this session was marked by a heavy workload. The Committee had considered the reports and adopted concluding observations for eight State parties: Colombia, Costa Rica, Niger, Suriname, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Czech Republic, Norway and the Netherlands. The Committee had identified positive developments as well as gaps and challenges and in all instances had sought to identify strategies for further solutions to the challenges of persistent forms of racial discrimination. The Committee had also considered a case under its communications procedure, and situations under the early warning and urgent action procedure. They had considered two States parties under the follow-up procedure. The secretariat had organized informal meetings with international experts in the area of migration and racial discrimination, particularly in the context of the current migrant crises. The Committee had also reflected on the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention, which would be celebrated on 26 November during the eighty-eighth session.


Comprehensive meeting coverage of all public meetings held this session, including the country reviews, can be found here.

The eighty-eighth session of the Committee will be held from 23 November to 11 December. The reports of Egypt, Holy See, Lithuania, Mongolia, Slovenia and Turkey will be considered during that session and can be found here.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is the longest established of the main human rights treaties and was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 21 December 1965.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CERD15/025E