Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination opens eightieth session

Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination

13 February 2012

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning opened its eightieth session, hearing an address by Carla Edelenbos, Chief of the Petitions and Inquiries Sections, United Nations Human Rights Treaties Division. The Committee elected its Chairman, three Vice Chairpersons and a Rapporteur, and adopted its agenda and programme of work.

In opening remarks, Carla Edelenbos, Chief of the Petitions and Inquiries Section of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties Division, drew the attention of the Committee to developments that had taken place since its last session in August 2011. Djibouti ratified the Convention on 30 September 2011, bringing the number of States parties to 175. Ms. Edelebos said the high number of States parties was a matter for satisfaction and reflected the international community’s continuing interest in advancing the goals and objectives of the Convention.

Ms. Edelenbos referred to the creation of the much anticipated tenth human rights treaty monitoring body; the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which held its first session from 8 to 11 November 2011 in Geneva. The Committee had enthusiastically taken up its tasks, which included the ability to act on urgent requests to seek and find a disappeared person as well as to bring situations of widespread or systematic practices of enforced disappearance to the urgent attention of the General Assembly. On 19 December 2011, the General Assembly approved a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which established a communications procedure. The Committee would examine the periodic reports of eleven States parties in the session: Canada, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Portugal, Qatar, Italy, Turkmenistan, Laos and Vietnam. The report of Senegal would be postponed to the next session., Also on the agenda was review under the Committee’s early warning and urgent action procedure of several country situations, follow-up of a number of States, consideration of an individual case under article 14 of the Convention and adoption of the annual report.

The Committee elected a new chairman, Alexei Avtonomov (Russia), and Amir Nourredine (Algeria); Jose Francisco Calitzay (Guatemala) and Dilip Lahiri (India) as Vice-Chairpersons Anastacia Crickley (Ireland) was elected Rapporteur.

The Committee will next meet in public on Tuesday, 14 February at 3 p.m. when it will begin consideration of the combined 16th to 17th periodic reports of Mexico (CERD/C/MEX/16-17).

Opening Statement

CARLA EDELENBOS, Chief of the Petitions and Inquiries Section, United Nations Human Rights Treaties Division, drew the attention of the Committee to developments that had taken place since its last session in August 2011. On 30 September 2011 Djibouti had ratified the Convention, bringing the number of States parties to 175. That high number of States parties was a matter for satisfaction and reflected the international community’s continuing interest in advancing the goals and objectives of the Convention. On the 22 September 2011, the General Assembly held a one day high-level meeting to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. To mark that occasion the Committee issued a substantive statement at its seventy-ninth session emphasizing that the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the outcome documents of the Durban Review Conference offered a comprehensive United Nations framework for combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The statement played a very positive role in advancing the negotiations among Member States towards an agreed text. A political declaration was adopted by consensus.

To close the 2011 International Year for People of African Descent United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened a high-level thematic debate on the achievement of the goals and objectives of the Year at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The main objective of the closing event was to take stock of the initiatives and activities undertaken by Member States, United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations, as well as civil society, including non-governmental organizations and organizations of people of African descent. The Committee’s own contributions, namely the day of thematic discussion on racial discrimination against people of African descent and subsequent adoption of a general recommendation on the same subject, were highly valued. At its 66th session the General Assembly adopted a resolution on ‘Global efforts for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action’ and encouraged the Working Group of Experts on the People of African Descent to present a programme for adoption by the Human Rights Council that would declare a Decade for People of African Descent, running from 2013 to 2023. The Committee would meet with the Chief of the Anti-Discrimination Section in the course of the session.

Ms. Edelenbos referred to the creation of the much anticipated tenth human rights treaty monitoring body; the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which held its first session from 8 to 11 November 2011 in Geneva. The Committee had enthusiastically taken up its tasks, which included the ability to act on urgent requests to seek and find a disappeared person as well as to bring situations of widespread or systematic practices of enforced disappearance to the urgent attention of the General Assembly. Another treaty body development was the new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which established a communications procedure for children.

Ms. Edelenbos said that the treaty body strengthening process had reached a decisive stage which culminated in the Dublin II wrap-up meeting of 10-11 November 2011. The Outcome Document was now available and concrete recommendations were addressed to treaty bodies, States and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, respectively. All treaty body experts were invited to engage in a closed online discussion about various proposals and there would be a more in-depth exchange on the topic with Mr. Ibrahim Salama, Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division during the session. On 7-8 February 2012, the Office held a consultation for States in Geneva with a second planned for 2-3 April 2012 in New York The Geneva consultations were well attended and provided for a rich exchange among States, with the participation of some treaty body members as resource persons. The report of the High Commissioner on the strengthening of treaty bodies would be published in June 2012.

Turning to the work of the Committee during the session, Ms. Edelenbos said the Committee would examine the periodic reports of eleven States parties in the session: Canada, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Portugal, Qatar, Italy, Turkmenistan, Laos and Vietnam. The report of Senegal would be postponed to the next session., Also on the agenda was review under the Committee’s early warning and urgent action procedure of several country situations, follow-up of a number of States, consideration of an individual case under article 14 of the Convention and adoption of the annual report. The Committee then elected a new chairman, Alexei Avtonomov (Russia) and Amir Nourredine (Algeria); Jose Francisco Calitzay (Guatemala) and Dilip Lahiri (India) as Vice-Chairpersons, while Anastacia Crickley (Ireland) was elected Rapporteur. It also adopted its agenda and programme of work.

Comments by Committee Members

Many Committee members stressed the importance of strengthening the treaty body process. Some speakers asked what had happened to the Russian proposal for strengthening the treaty body process and how was it meant to work together with the High Commissioner’s initiative in that area.

CARLA EDELENBOS, Chief of the Petitions and Inquiries Section, United Nations Human Rights Treaties Division, in response to the question on the Russian proposal said there would be further informal discussions today in New York from Member States on the draft text presented by Russia on strengthening the treaty body system. Ms. Edelenbos said that the High Commissioner’s initiative on strengthening the treaty bodies was always meant to end up in some type of intergovernmental process as these decisions should be taken up by the member States.

ALEXEI AVTONOMOV, Chairman of the Committee, said that he believed that the discussion process on the Russian proposal should not take place entirely in New York and that the Committee should find ways to communicate with all bodies regarding the strengthening of the treaty body system.
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