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CERD
60th session
20 March 2002
Afternoon



The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon discussed its methods of work, focusing on issues pertaining to country reports, participation of non-governmental organizations and the application of its early warning and urgent action procedure.
The discussion started on the basis of the report of the Working Group on working methods, which was created by the Committee at the beginning of its three-week session. The report was introduced by one of the Committee members.
The Expert said that the Working Group had assessed the Committee's relationship with other treaty bodies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Some members of the Working Group disapproved of the idea of a pre-sessional meeting with the NGOs. However, they were in favour of spending the first day of the work of the Committee listening to NGO submissions on country reports to be considered during the same session. In order to do that, the Committee's rules of procedures had to be changed so that a day could be devoted to non-governmental organizations.
Some members were of the view that information received from non-governmental organizations should be sent not only to the country rapporteur of that particular State but also to the other Committee members and the reporting State.
During the discussion, Experts suggested that the length of country reports should not exceed 30 pages, and introductory statements by Government delegations should be limited to 10 minutes. It was also recommended that periodic reports should contain relevant responses to the previous recommendations by the Committee.
On the application of the early warning and urgent action procedure, Experts said that the procedure deserved the attention of the Committee because of the many situations that needed preventive measures.
An Expert said that the Committee should express concern about the new legislation and measures taken by some leading democratic States, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, following the 11 September events. The Committee's concerns should be expressed about the racial implications of the measures that would infringe on human rights. The Expert recalled that High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson had expressed her concern in a number of fora that measures taken to fight terrorism might infringe on human rights.
Sharing his experience on country reports with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Secretary of the Committee, Paulo David, said that a country analysis was short and to the point, containing issues on the demographic and economic situation related to the rights of children. He also gave a brief overview of the content of a country report submitted to the Committee, which he said had facilitated the work of the Committee and the drawing of concluding observations and recommendations on the report.
Several Experts said that the Committee was the only treaty body not to be provided with a country profile and country analysis, and expressed the wish to receive such documents, depending on the availability of human resources to produce such documents.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 21 March, it will adopt its concluding observations and recommendations on remaining country reports already considered this session.


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