RACIAL DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE REVIEWS PROGRESS IN WORKING GROUP ON RESERVATIONS AND WORKING GROUP ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon heard presentations from Committee Experts on recent progress made in the Working Group on Reservations and in the Working Group on People of African Descent.

The Working Group on Reservations was established at the request of the Inter-Committee Meeting and the meeting of chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies to examine the practice of treaty bodies with respect to reservations to international human rights treaties and to report to it on its work. It held its second meeting in Geneva on 14 and 15 December 2006.

Introducing the report of the second meeting of the Working Group on Reservations (HRI/MC/2007/5), Committee Expert Patrick Thornberry said that, during the discussion in the Working Group, he had noted that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had a different position from other Committees, as Article 20 of the Convention provided for a collegiate system for determining a reservation, as a reservation would be considered incompatible or inhibitive if at least two-thirds of the States parties to the Convention objected to it. It had also been suggested that a recent International Court of Justice opinion had implied that any reservation which had not been objected to by at least two-thirds of the States parties was compatible with the Convention, but he had disagreed with that conclusion.

In its report, the Working Group on Reservations had made a number of recommendations. Mr. Thornberry highlighted that the Working Group had welcomed the inclusion of a provision on reservations in the draft harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties. In part on account of that, the Working Group had adopted a new recommendation 9, which suggested, among other things, that treaty bodies should request in their lists of issues information about the nature and scope of reservations or interpretative declarations; the reason why such reservations were considered to be necessary and have been maintained; the precise effect of each reservation in terms of national law and policy; and any plans to limit the effect of reservations and ultimately withdraw them within a specific time frame. Also, he had introduced a suggestion, which was taken up in that recommendation, that treaty bodies should clarify to States parties their reasons for concern over particular reservations in light of the provisions of the treaty concerned and, as relevant, its object and purpose.

Finally, Mr. Thornberry drew attention to the Working Group's recommendation that the Inter-Committee Meeting and the meeting of chairpersons decide whether another meeting of the Working Group should be convened, taking into account the reactions and queries of treaty bodies on the recommendations of the Working Group, the outcome of the meeting with the International Law Commission, and any further developments in the International Law Commission on the subject of reservations to treaties. In that connection, he recalled that on 15 and 16 May the treaty bodies were to meet with the International Law Commission, in order to revise their 1992 guidelines concerning the competence of treaty bodies, to be attended by one member of each treaty body.

The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent was established by the Commission on Human Rights in 2002, following the recommendation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action elaborated at the World Conference against Racism. Its mandate is to study the problems of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent living in the Diaspora and to propose measures to ensure their well being, and to eliminate racial discrimination against those individuals all over the world. The Working Group held its sixth meeting from 29 January to 2 February 2007.

Presenting the results of the sixth meeting of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, Committee Member Régis de Gouttes said that he did not have the final report of the session, but he had participated in its work and would present his own impressions. At its sixth session, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent had examined the question of racial profiling. In that context, he had presented the Committee's General Recommendation 31, on the prevention of racial discrimination in criminal justice. The Working Group had first discussed the issue of a definition or racial profiling. All parties had emphasized the seriousness of the phenomenon of racial profiling, which had grown in recent years, with negative effects for social cohesion. Two definitions for racial profiling had been proposed, inspired by the Durban Programme of Action, in which any recourse to racial or social stererotypes to take certain actions in, inter alia, the criminal sphere, was condemned. That corresponded with the definition in General Recommendation 31. A more narrow definition had also been described, which focused on police practices and the use of racial profiling as the basis of suspicion. That narrow approach could be found in the Committee's General Recommendation 20, which looked at, among others, arrest and search solely on the basis of suspicion based on the appearance of the individual. His impression was that the Working Group had focused on the narrow definition, in terms of police practice.

In terms of recommendations to combat racial profiling, Mr. de Gouttes had recalled in the discussions that the Convention and General Recommendation 31 provided a lengthy list of measures that States could adopt. Two other proposals were made. One was to supplement existing texts by guidelines for the police or codes of conduct for officials. Another was that a new criminal offence should be introduced to prohibit and punish racial profiling. Finally, the need for statistical data on racial profiling had been stressed.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Monday, 5 March, it is scheduled to take up the issues of follow-up procedure and early warning or urgent action procedures.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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