COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OPENS SIXTY-FOURTH SESSION

23 February 2004



Elects Committee Chairperson, Three Vice-Chairpersons and Rapporteur; Hears Address by Representative of Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights


The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning opened its sixty-fourth session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva by electing its Chairperson, three Vice-Chairpersons and a Rapportuer. It also heard an address by a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Committee elected Expert Mario Jorge Yutzis as its Chairperson. Committee Experts Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill, Raghavan Vasudevan Pillai and Linos-Alexander Sicilianos were elected Vice-Chairpersons. Committee Expert Patrick Thornberry was elected Rapporteur.

Nine elected or re-elected Committee members solemnly declared that they would perform their duties and exercise their powers as members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination honourably, faithfully, impartially and conscientiously. They are Alexei S. Avtonomov, Ralph Boyd, Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah, Ms. January-Bardill, Mr. Pillai, Tang Chengyuan, Luis Valencia Rodriguez and Mr. Yutzis.

In her address, Maria-Francisca Ize-Charrin, Chief of the Division of Treaties and Commission Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that her Office had endeavoured over the past year to answer the calls for extensive reform of the United Nations, made by the Secretary-General in his second reform report entitled “Strengthening of the United Nations: An Agenda for Further Change”.

Ms. Ize-Charrin also said that her Office was continuing to encourage the committees to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their working methods. Along with greater harmonization of the reporting guidelines, all treaty bodies had been urged to adopt specific follow-up procedures with regard to reporting.

In the course of its three-week session, which will end on 12 March, the Committee will review anti-discrimination efforts undertaken by the Governments of Suriname, Spain, Sweden, the Bahamas, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lebanon, Nepal, Brazil and the Netherlands. It will also look into the state of affairs in Guyana, Nigeria, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Madagascar, Tanzania and Venezuela under its review procedure for States parties whose reports are seriously overdue. These countries are among the 169 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Also this morning, the Committee approved its agenda and adopted its programme of work.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it is scheduled to take up the initial to tenth periodic reports of Suriname (CERD/C/446/Add.1).

Statement by Chief of Treaties and Commission Branch of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

MARIA-FRANCISCA IZE-CHARRIN, Chief, Treaties and Commission Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that her Office had endeavoured over the past year to answer the calls for extensive reform of the United Nations, made by the Secretary-General in his second reform report entitled “Strengthening of the United Nations: An Agenda for Further Change”. The Secretary-General’s reform report had set out various Action Points, of which Actions 2 and 3 were of particular relevance to the work of the Committee. Among other things, the Secretary-General had requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to consult with the committees on new streamlined reporting procedures.

Ms. Ize-Charrin recalled that the Office undertook extensive consultations on the reform issue, including an international meeting of experts held in Malbun, Liechtenstein. Other options were put forward instead of the idea of a single report, which would summarize a State party’s implementation of all its treaty obligations. Consensus, reflected in the recommendations adopted at the second Inter-Committee Meeting and fifteenth Meeting of Chairpersons in June 2003, had favoured the expansion of the core document to include information on substantive rights congruent to all committees. The expanded core document could be submitted in tandem with a targeted treaty-specific report of the relevant treaty body. The Office was currently engaged in the process of preparing proposals for the format and content of an expanded core document as well as the harmonized guidelines on reporting to the individual committees. At the same time, the Office was expanding the possibility of making greater use of information technology in the reporting process.

Ms. Ize-Charrin also said that her Office was continuing to encourage the committees to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their working methods. Throughout the recent process of consultations and discussions, strong support for greater cooperation amongst treaty bodies was expressed, with the adoption of common working methods on a best practice basis being suggested, cross-referencing of concluding observations and recommendations, and the adoption of parallel general comments/recommendations. Along with greater harmonization of the reporting guidelines, all treaty bodies had been urged to adopt specific follow-up procedures with regard to reporting.

Further, Ms. Ize-Charrin said that she welcomed the fact that the Committee would hold a thematic discussion on 1 and 2 March on the issue of non-citizens and racial discrimination, which was a very important issue not only for the Committee but also for all other treaty bodies, and in particular for the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which would hold its first-ever session from 1 to 5 March in Geneva.


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