Background

In August 2022, during its 107th session, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (“the Committee”) held a thematic discussion with a view of elaborating a general recommendation on racial discrimination and the right to health under Article 5 (e)(iv) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“ICERD”). The event focused experiences shared by persons protected under ICERD, challenges and lessons learned and demonstrated the need to provide clarity and guidance on the obligations under the ICERD regarding the right to health.

Following the discussion, the Committee initiated the process of drafting the General Recommendation N° 37 on racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health and adopted its first draft at its 109th session, from 11 to 28 April 2023.

The Committee wishes to invite all interested stakeholders to provide comments on this first draft (see link below).

All stakeholders, including States, United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, United Nations entities and specialised agencies, national human rights institutions, civil society and grassroot organisations, research institutions, academia and other relevant stakeholders (i.e., health-related entities, practitioners or laboratories) are invited to submit their written comments to ohchr-cerd-gr37@un.org.

The current version of the draft General recommendation can be found here in English (original version), French and Spanish (informal translations).