Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

In February/March 2007 the (United Nations) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) held its 70th session, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Committee is an international panel of 18 independent experts from all regions of the world. CERD has spent most of its three-week session reviewing the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The following countries were examined:

Antigua / Barbuda, Canada, Czech Republic, India, Israel, Liechtenstein and Macedonia.

It also looked at complaints relating to

the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Togo.

The review of national implementation of the Convention by CERD provides a valuable opportunity to examine efforts undertaken by governments to combat racial discrimination and to promote interracial tolerance and understanding. It is important to recall that, according to article 1 of the Convention, “racial discrimination” refers to “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.”

A United Nations press release summarizing the main points raised during the discussion of the governments’ reports and Meeting summaries can be found at www.unog.ch , News and Media; Press Releases and Summaries:

The concluding observations of the 70th session of CERD can be found at :

http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/cerds70.htm

The full final recommendations may be found in most official languages of the United Nations on website www.unhchr.ch of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and also on website www.unog.ch/news .

If your country has not yet made the declaration relating to Article 14 (Individual communications), please encourage all NGOs to put pressure onto the government to do so.