Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concludes its ninety-fifth session

Adopts Concluding Observations and Recommendations on the Reports of Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Sweden

GENEVA (11 May 2018) - The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon concluded its ninety-fifth session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Sweden, which were considered during the session.

The concluding observations and recommendations of the Committee will be available on the Committee’s webpage immediately after the closing of the ninety-fifth session.

Noureddine Amir, Committee Chairperson, reminded that during the session the Committee had welcomed five new Experts: Mr. Silvio José Albuquerque, Ms. Chinsung Chung, Ms. Rita Izsàk-Ndiaye, Ms. Keiko Ko, and Mr. Bakari Sidiki Diaby.  The Committee had also elected a new bureau, namely Ms. Gay McDougall, Ms. Yanduan Li, and Mr. Pastor Elias Murillo Martinez as Vice Chairpersons, Ms. Rita Izsàk-Ndiaye as Rapporteur, and Mr. Noureddine Amir as the Chairperson.

During the session, the Committee had held very constructive dialogues with States, and it had benefited from the valuable contributions of civil society, without which the Committee would not have been able to understand country situations in a comprehensive manner.  Turning to the follow-up procedure, Mr. Amir informed that the Committee had examined nine follow-up reports from Georgia, Greece, Italy, Oman, South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Portugal and Turkmenistan.

As for individual communications, the Committee had received three inter-State communications under article 11 of the Convention for the first time in the history of the United Nations treaty bodies.  The communications had been submitted by Qatar and the State of Palestine.  In line with the rules of procedures under article 11, the Committee had brought those three communications to the attention of concerned countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

The Committee had also adopted its annual report, which would be presented at the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The ninety-sixth session of the Committee will be held from 6 to 30 August 2018, during which it will review the reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, China (Hong Kong), China (Macau), Cuba, Japan, Latvia, Mauritius, and Montenegro on how they implement the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

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