Paraguay to face review by UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination

GENEVA (4 August 2016) – Paraguay’s record on tackling racial discrimination will face scrutiny by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on 8 and 9 August. Paraguay 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 Paraguayan Government are:

• Measures to combat racism and discrimination faced by indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities;
• Steps to prevent illegal occupation of ancestral lands and territories of indigenous peoples;
• Steps to ensure survival of indigenous peoples who live in voluntary isolation in the Chaco region, and to respect their decision to remain isolated;
• Steps to ensure environmental problems caused by logging, soybean monoculture and abusive use of agrochemical substances do not affect health of indigenous peoples;
• Access to education for indigenous children;
• Measures to guarantee protection for human rights defenders.

The review will take place on 8 August from 15:00 to 18:00 (09:00 to 12:00 in Asuncion) and on 9 August from 10:00 to 13:00 (04:00 to 07:00) 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 

For your news websites and social media: Multimedia content & key messages relating to our news releases are available on UN Human Rights social media channels, listed below. Please tag us using the proper handles:
Twitter: @UNHumanRights
Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
Instagram: unitednationshumanrights
Google+: unitednationshumanrights
Youtube: unohchr