Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Closes One Hundred and Fifth Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Chile, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon closed its one hundred and fifth session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Chile, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand.

Marc Bossuyt, Committee Vice-Chairperson and acting Committee Chairperson, thanked the Committee Members for their tremendous work and their efficiency. He also warmly thanked the outgoing Members for their significant contribution to the work of the Committee.

Committee Rapporteur Rita Izsák-Ndiaye noted that the Committee during its session had reviewed the reports of Chile, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand, and thanked the States parties for sending delegations that had engaged in dialogues with the Committee. She also thanked national human rights institutions that had submitted information, as well as the non-governmental organizations that had contributed essential information and oral testimonies during their meetings with the Committee.

The concluding observations can be found on the webpage of the session.

In order to facilitate future country reviews, Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye said the Committee had also discussed and adopted two lists of issues prior to reporting concerning San Marino and Trinidad and Tobago.

According to its individual complaints procedure, the Committee found a violation of article 6 of the Convention in a case raised by communication No. 65/2017, concerning France.

With regard to ongoing inter-state communications under article 11 of the Convention, Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye recalled that the Committee had found admissible, in April 2021, the inter-State communication submitted in 2018 by the State of Palestine against Israel. Following a vote by secret ballot, the Committee had established, on 30 November 2021, the ad hoc Conciliation Commission provided for in article 12, whose task would be to find an amicable solution to the dispute.

The Committee had also endorsed suggestions made on 15 April 2021 by its ad hoc Conciliation Commissions concerning the inter-State communications presented by Qatar against, respectively, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye said that the Committee had considered one follow-up report regarding Montenegro, and would continue looking at the implementation of some of the most important and urgent recommendations issued in its concluding observations. Regarding its early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee had examined relevant submissions and would send three letters to three States parties.

The Committee held a meeting with the members of the Working Group on People of African Descent where future work priorities and plans, had been shared, and where views had been exchanged about the state of current affairs and developments regarding the situation of people of African Descent in the different regions, said Ms. Izsák-Ndiaye.

In the context of improving its working methods, the Committee had agreed on steps to be taken to engage with the States parties whose periodic reports were more than 10 or 15 years overdue. Moreover, the Committee had tabled a discussion and the adoption of guidelines on its cooperation with national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations, which would help civil society partners know how best to work with the Committee.

Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee’s one hundred and fifth session and other documents related to the session can be found here.

The Committee’s one hundred and sixth session is scheduled to take place between 11 and 29 April 2022, and the following States parties are scheduled for review: Cameroon, Luxembourg, Bolivia, Kazakhstan and the United States.

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