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COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION EXCHANGES VIEWS WITH ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
10 March 2004
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Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination 10 March 2004
Ramcharan Calls on States Parties to Make Declaration Recognizing
Competence of Committee to Examine Individual Communications
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning exchanged views with Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, on issues related to racism, racial discrimination and the importance of promoting human rights education.
Mr. Ramcharan called on States parties which have not yet done so to make the declaration under article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by which they would recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and review individual communications (complaints).
The acting High Commissioner welcomed the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, which adopted its report by consensus yesterday, and, in particular, the contributions made by Committee Experts in their presentation to the Working Group last month. "We are gravitating back to a consensus on the issues of racism and racial discrimination", the acting High Commissioner stated. Moreover, he mentioned that the Working Group on the right to development also adopted its report on the basis of a broad agreement and that the fight against discrimination went hand in hand with the fight against poverty.
Mr. Ramcharan highlighted the importance of promoting human rights education, particularly in primary and secondary schools, and the need to draw up a convention to that effect. A more strategic approach to human rights education was crucial as a whole, and there was also a need to advance the principles of racial discrimination in all the countries of the world. Several members of the Committee then expressed their support for the idea of such a convention. An Expert affirmed that it was necessary to have an instrument which synthesised this issue of education on humans right which was mentioned in many instruments.
The acting High Commissioner mentioned that 7 April 2004 will mark the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda. At the end of January this year, the Secretary-General had proposed that a special rapporteur or adviser be appointed to address this specific issue, a point which he reiterated yesterday in an address to both houses of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa. “We can no longer afford gaps in existing capacity to prevent early warning of genocide or comparable crimes”, the Secretary-General said. The Secretary-General also made the recommendation for an additional protocol to the Convention on Genocide of 1948. The Office of the High Commissioner has written to the State parties to the Convention on Racial Discrimination to ask them for their views on these proposals.
A Committee Expert recalled that the genocide in Rwanda, as well as many other emergency situations, had been treated within the framework of the Committee’s work, and that the moment had come for the Committee to evalute its work during the past 10 years with regard to these emergency situations.
A member of the Committee expressed his reservations on the possibility of revising the text of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Over the years, the Committee had extended its mandate by instituting emergency procedures and by adopting general recommendations, the Expert said. Mr. Ramcharan said that rather than reopening the Convention, the question to ask was whether there were new problems and circumstances which would justify an additional protocol to the Convention.
The acting High Commissioner emphasized the need to strengthen national systems for the protection of human rights and in that regard indicated that during the upcoming session of the Commission on Human Rights, which opens on Monday, 15 March, a report would be presented on the responses from States parties to the note verbale addressed to them by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights calling on them to provide information on their national systems for the protection of human rights.
Before the end of its session on 12 March, the Committee will issue its final observations on the reports which it has examined over the past three weeks.
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of Racial Discrimination 10 March 2004
Ramcharan Calls on States Parties to Make Declaration Recognizing
Competence of Committee to Examine Individual Communications
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning exchanged views with Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, on issues related to racism, racial discrimination and the importance of promoting human rights education.
Mr. Ramcharan called on States parties which have not yet done so to make the declaration under article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by which they would recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and review individual communications (complaints).
The acting High Commissioner welcomed the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, which adopted its report by consensus yesterday, and, in particular, the contributions made by Committee Experts in their presentation to the Working Group last month. "We are gravitating back to a consensus on the issues of racism and racial discrimination", the acting High Commissioner stated. Moreover, he mentioned that the Working Group on the right to development also adopted its report on the basis of a broad agreement and that the fight against discrimination went hand in hand with the fight against poverty.
Mr. Ramcharan highlighted the importance of promoting human rights education, particularly in primary and secondary schools, and the need to draw up a convention to that effect. A more strategic approach to human rights education was crucial as a whole, and there was also a need to advance the principles of racial discrimination in all the countries of the world. Several members of the Committee then expressed their support for the idea of such a convention. An Expert affirmed that it was necessary to have an instrument which synthesised this issue of education on humans right which was mentioned in many instruments.
The acting High Commissioner mentioned that 7 April 2004 will mark the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda. At the end of January this year, the Secretary-General had proposed that a special rapporteur or adviser be appointed to address this specific issue, a point which he reiterated yesterday in an address to both houses of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa. “We can no longer afford gaps in existing capacity to prevent early warning of genocide or comparable crimes”, the Secretary-General said. The Secretary-General also made the recommendation for an additional protocol to the Convention on Genocide of 1948. The Office of the High Commissioner has written to the State parties to the Convention on Racial Discrimination to ask them for their views on these proposals.
A Committee Expert recalled that the genocide in Rwanda, as well as many other emergency situations, had been treated within the framework of the Committee’s work, and that the moment had come for the Committee to evalute its work during the past 10 years with regard to these emergency situations.
A member of the Committee expressed his reservations on the possibility of revising the text of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Over the years, the Committee had extended its mandate by instituting emergency procedures and by adopting general recommendations, the Expert said. Mr. Ramcharan said that rather than reopening the Convention, the question to ask was whether there were new problems and circumstances which would justify an additional protocol to the Convention.
The acting High Commissioner emphasized the need to strengthen national systems for the protection of human rights and in that regard indicated that during the upcoming session of the Commission on Human Rights, which opens on Monday, 15 March, a report would be presented on the responses from States parties to the note verbale addressed to them by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights calling on them to provide information on their national systems for the protection of human rights.
Before the end of its session on 12 March, the Committee will issue its final observations on the reports which it has examined over the past three weeks.
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