COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION DISCUSSES REPORTING GUIDELINES FOR STATES PARTIES

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning discussed its general guidelines regarding the form and contents of reports to be submitted by States parties under article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention and decided to review them in order to take into consideration the guidelines on a common core document and treaty specific documents, as contained in the harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties, which were issued in May 2006.

At the end of the meeting, the Committee decided to establish an open-ended working group to prepare new draft revised guidelines for adoption at the present session, incorporating the amendments recommended today. Committee Expert Linos Alexander Sicilianos was named to head the working group.

Opening the meeting, Régis de Gouttes, Committee Chairperson, said that the Committee, which had now reached its seventieth session, had come a long way since its beginnings. However, racial discrimination still persisted all over the world, and continued to be the cause of many armed conflicts. They therefore had to be much more vigilant and work more intensively. At the same time, the progress made in the Committee had to be emphasized. In its earliest days, as some members would remember, there had been no country rapporteurs, and very little assistance from non-governmental organizations. Now, there was increased assistance from the Secretariat, a great many contributions from non-governmental organizations, including help from the Anti-Racism Information Service, and an improved presentation of reports by States pursuant to revised guidelines. Other progress included changes in their working procedures: the institution of country rapporteurs; questionnaires sent out to States; and working groups within the Committee, including on individual communications and on the early warning and urgent action procedure. There was also a review procedure for States that were very late in reporting and a follow-up procedure. At a time when so much was being said about the reform of treaty bodies, it was important to observe that the Committee was very much alive and ready for renewal. One proof of that was their endeavour to consider a document on revised reporting guidelines today.

In a brief introduction to the revised guidelines, Nathalie Prouvez, Secretary of the Committee, drew attention to the revision, concerning article 3 of the Convention, which sought to ask States to provide information on measures taken that sought to prevent and avoid as much as possible the segregation of groups in education and housing, in particular the Roma, descent-based communities and non-citizens. In addition, she highlighted the proposal in the revised guidelines to request States to indicate if racist motivations constituted an aggravating circumstance in their criminal law. Also of note, was a paragraph in which the Committee requested States to furnish information on measures taken to ensure that any measures taken in the fight against terrorism did not discriminate in purpose or effect, on the grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origins, and that individuals were not subject to racial or ethnic profiling or stereotyping.

In the ensuing debate, Experts offered a number of suggestions and comments on the revised guidelines. Regarding civil and political rights, an Expert observed that States parties should be asked for information on minorities not only in the legislature, but in all bodies of the government, including the executive and the judiciary. An Expert felt that it was not enough to ask States parties to report whether they had a national human rights mechanism mandated to hear complaints of racial discrimination; it was important to ask also whether such mechanisms had the ability to provide a resolution of such complaints. An Expert frankly complained that State reports tended to be overlong, sometimes as many as 200 pages, and also observed that information from non-governmental organizations often resulted in an avalanche of documents, which could not all possibly be read. An Expert felt that religious affiliation might have to be considered as a component of racial discrimination, as could be seen with the association of Islam with terrorism. He felt that the guidelines as they stood at present did not fully take the convergence of religion and racism into account, or the Committee's competence to consider religious discrimination under Article 4 of the Convention.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m. it is scheduled to take up the seventeenth and eighteenth periodic reports of Canada (CERD/C/CAN/18).