UK faces review by UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination

GENEVA (28 July 2016) – The United Kingdom’s record on tackling racial discrimination will face scrutiny by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on 4 and 5 August. The UK is one of the 177 States that have ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and so is reviewed regularly by the Committee of 18 international independent experts. 

Among the possible issues for discussion between CERD members and a delegation from the UK Government are:

• Instances of racist hate speech and hate crimes, particularly following the EU referendum, and measures taken to prevent and combat them;
• Situation of ethnic minorities, including regarding unemployment, concentration in insecure and low-paid jobs, school exclusions, adequate housing and health care;
• Situation of Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, including housing and education;
• Access to justice for ethnic minorities, asylum seekers, refugees, victims of trafficking;
• Representation of ethnic minorities in executive, Parliament, political parties, police, criminal justice system and other public bodies;
• Use of “stop and search” powers by police;
• Measures to combat racial stereotypes and bias in media and among general public; racism in sport.

The review will take place on 4 August from 15:00 – 18:00 (14:00 – 17:00 in London) and on 5 August from 10:00 – 13:00 (09:00 – 12:00) at Palais Wilson in Geneva, and will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/  The Committee will also hear from other UN entities and NGOs. More information here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1073&Lang=en

The Committee will hold a news conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva at 13.30 on Friday 26 August to discuss its findings on the UK and the other countries being reviewed – Greece, Paraguay, South Africa, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The findings, officially termed concluding observations, will be published here:  http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1073&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell - +41 22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org

Background

Members of CERD are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. More information on the Committee: http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cerd/pages/cerdindex.aspx

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 21 December 1965. More information on the Convention’s 50th anniversary here: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/50/Pages/Icerd50.aspx

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