Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Closes One Hundred and Fourth Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Reports of Lebanon and the Netherlands

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon closed its one hundred and fourth session online after adopting its concluding observations on the reports of Lebanon and the Netherlands.

Committee Chairperson Li Yanduan thanked the Committee Members for their tremendous work and efficiency. A lot had been achieved during the session.

Committee Rapporteur Rita Izsák-Ndiaye said this was the fourth extraordinary online session held by the Committee due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee had reviewed the reports of Lebanon and the Netherlands, whom she thanked for agreeing to this virtual examination. They also considered follow-up reports regarding Colombia, El Salvador, Lithuania and Uzbekistan, and adopted a list of issues prior to reporting on India. No inter-State or individual communications were considered during the session.

Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye said that under its early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee had examined relevant submissions and had sent five letters concerning situations in four countries.

The Committee had also considered the report of the High Commissioner on racial justice in accordance with the Human Rights Council’s resolution 43/1 of June 2020 in order to discuss how they would give an adequate follow-up to the report. They had decided to consider the various suggestions that had been made for the Committee to cooperate with the independent expert mechanism.

Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye said that in order to further improve the Committee’s working methods, they had adopted internal guidelines for the elaboration of general recommendations which would be used during the consideration of their next general recommendation focusing on racial discrimination and the right to health.

Concluding, the Rapporteur said that the next session of the Committee would take place from 15 November to 3 December 2021, and that they had

opted for an in-person meeting in Geneva if travel and health conditions so allowed.

Documentation concerning the Committee’s session can be found here. The webcast of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held its one hundred and fourth session from 9 to 25 August. The one hundred and fifth session of the Committee is schedule to be held from 15 November to 3 December, during which it is expected to review the reports of Bahrain, Bolivia, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand.

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