Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Closes One Hundred and Eighth Session

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon closed its one hundred and eighth session during which it reviewed the reports of Bahrain, Botswana, Brazil, France, Georgia and Jamaica.

Ibrahima Guisse, Committee Rapporteur, providing a summary of the work undertaken during the session, said that the Committee conducted six country reviews, examining the situation in Bahrain, Botswana, Brazil, France, Georgia and Jamaica. The Committee’s concluding observations are available on the session’s webpage.

Mr. Guisse said the Committee also considered communication 62/2018, Jallow vs. Denmark. The Committee requested that the State party grant the author an apology and full reparation. In addition, it requested the State party to develop guidelines on reactions to racist hate speech as well as the establishment of training programmes for police officers, prosecutors, and judges on the prevention of racial hatred and discrimination.

The Committee also considered two follow-up reports submitted by the Netherlands and Slovakia.

Under the early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee adopted a decision on the situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, in which it called on the State party, inter alia, to immediately investigate all allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang and to immediately release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty.

Mr. Guisse said the Committee pursued its work towards the elaboration of a general recommendation on racial discrimination and the right to health by adopting its outline, with the next step being to adopt the first draft of the general recommendation at its one hundred and ninth session in April 2023. During the session, the Committee also held meetings with the members of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, and the newly appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance.

Verene Albertha Shepherd, Committee Chairperson, in concluding remarks, thanked all members of the Committee for their participation in the session and for all they did to ensure that they covered their agenda and stayed true to their mandate of working towards the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination wherever they occurred.

Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The concluding observations and other documents related to the session can be found here.

The next session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is scheduled to take place from 11 to 28 April 2023, when it is scheduled to review the reports of Argentina, Niger, Philippines, Portugal, Russian Federation and Tajikistan.

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