COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CLOSES VIRTUAL ONE HUNDRED AND FIRST SESSION

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon closed its virtual one hundred and first session.

Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, Committee Rapporteur, summing up the activities of the Committee during the session, said that in the context of the Committee’s early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee had adopted two statements, one in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on persons of concern under the Convention, and another on the situation of indigenous peoples in one State party to the Convention. It had also issued five letters to five States parties.

Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye said that with regards to individual communications, the Committee had decided on the admissibility of one communication submitted against one State party to the Convention. The Committee had also adopted amendments to its rules of procedure, which allowed for virtual work in cases of exceptional circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and defined the process of considering urgent requests between sessions, including the early warning and urgent action procedure. As for its follow-up procedure, the Committee had considered 10 follow-up reports from Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Honduras, Japan, Latvia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Norway, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and adopted recommendations to be communicated to these States parties.

The Rapporteur said that the Committee had also adopted its annual report of the year 2019, covering the ninety-ninth and one hundredth sessions of the Committee, as well as the first six months of 2020. It would be available on the Committee’s webpage in the coming weeks.

Yanduan Li, Committee Chairperson, thanked all Committee members for their hard work, and thanked the secretariat, the conference services, the interpreters and all those who had made this session possible. She said the Committee would next meet in November and officially closed the session.

The Committee’s one hundred and first session was held remotely from 4 to 7 August. It was not able to hold meetings on the first day because of technical probleMs. The consideration of reports by States parties has been postponed to future sessions because of the COVID-19 situation.

All public meetings of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination are webcast live at http ://webtv.un.org/ while the meeting summaries in English and French can be accessed at the United Nations Office at Geneva News page .

The Committee’s one hundred and second session is scheduled to be held from 16 November to 4 December 2020.

CERD20.002E