Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Opens One Hundred and Eleventh Session in Geneva, Committee Experts Address the Conflict in the Gaza Strip
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning opened its one hundred and eleventh session in Geneva, during which it will review anti-discrimination efforts by Bolivia, Bulgaria, Germany, Morocco, South Africa and Viet Nam and examine individual complaints under article 14 of the Convention. Committee Experts addressed the conflict in the Gaza Strip. The Committee also heard from a Representative of the Secretary-General and adopted the session’s agenda.
Yury Boychenko, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, millions of persons still faced difficulties, obstacles, and pushbacks in exercising their rights due to racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Systemic racism and structural racial discrimination persisted, in particular against people of African descent and indigenous peoples, who consistently experienced marginalisation and discrimination with respect to economic, social and cultural rights and their participation in public and political affairs. Migrants, in particular refugees and asylum seekers, were still denied or had limited access to basic services and rights. Casual racist hate speech and racist and xenophobic attitudes persisted.
Noureddin Amir, Committee Expert, said six million Jews died in the Holocaust while Europe looked on. Today, there was a new holocaust and it was the Palestinian people who were paying the price. The United Nations had been unable to firmly condemn this attack and prevent violations of international law. The Palestinians were again being chased from their land. Until when would all remain silent. Enough was enough. Israel was a true terrorist State. This was truly a holocaust, and the international community needed to put an end to it.
Gay McDougall, Committee Expert, said that there was a serious gap between the work being done in the United Nations and the situation on the ground in regions of conflict, particularly the Middle East. The Committee had issued a very important statement on the situation in the Middle East through its early warning and urgent action procedures. It had formed a commission for consultation with the two States parties in question to seek a resolution to the issue, but it had achieved no results as one of the States parties had refused to cooperate.
Mr. Boychenko said that he shared the sentiments and anger expressed by the Committee members. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights felt powerless in the face of this issue. It was doing its best, but the situation was unfolding dramatically. He expressed his personal view that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was being violated. Words and emotions were not enough, he said. Urgent, strong action was needed.
Verene Albertha Shepherd, Committee Chairperson, said that this was a worrying time for everyone who believed in peace and the ending of conflicts and hostilities against vulnerable people, especially when racial discrimination was the root cause. The Committee had consistently raised alarm that systemic racism and structural racial discrimination persisted, in particular against colonised peoples, who consistently experienced marginalisation and discrimination with respect to economic, social and cultural rights and their participation in public and political affairs.
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 eleventh session and other documents related to the session can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public on Tuesday, 21 November at 3 p.m. to consider the combined twenty-third to twenty-fifth periodic report of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (CERD/C/BGR/23-25).
Statements
YURY BOYCHENKO, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, opened the session. He said that this was the last session in the seventy-fifth anniversary year of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The adoption was a specific moment when nations paused in the aftermath of the World War II and committed to put human dignity at the centre of the international agenda, including in the fight against racial discrimination and racism. That resulted in articles 1 and 2 of the Declaration, according to which: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind”. Racism was among the first challenges brought to the newly created United Nations, when the treatment of the people of Indian origin in South Africa was raised in 1946, and it had been seized of the issue ever since.
Seventy-five years on, millions of persons still faced difficulties, obstacles, and pushbacks in exercising their rights due to racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Systemic racism and structural racial discrimination persisted, in particular against people of African descent and indigenous peoples, who consistently experienced marginalisation and discrimination with respect to economic, social and cultural rights and their participation in public and political affairs. Migrants, in particular refugees and asylum seekers, were still denied or had limited access to basic services and rights. Casual racist hate speech and racist and xenophobic attitudes persisted. The degradation of biodiversity and pollution of the environment threatened the livelihood and subsistence of indigenous peoples, in particular where projects were explored or carried out.
The Committee had been addressing these challenges in dialogues with States parties and under its early warning and urgent action procedure. To fully realise the promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it had advocated for concrete actions to repair longstanding racism-related violations and injustices deeply rooted in legacies of enslavement and colonialism, which continued to affect people of African descent and indigenous peoples to this day. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights systematically called upon States parties to provide holistic remedies to victims of racism and racial discrimination, and to recognise the competence of the Committee to consider individual complaints, which served as a complementary tool to bring remedies to victims of racial discrimination when domestic recourses failed them. Mr. Boychenko encouraged the Committee to continue building on its important work with the other United Nations anti-racism mechanisms.
The Anti-Racial Discrimination Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had continued supporting all aspects of functioning of six anti racial discrimination mechanisms. Two of these mechanisms, the intergovernmental Working Group on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the Ad hoc Committee on the Complementary Standards to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, continued negotiations on a draft United Nations declaration on the promotion and full respect of human rights of people of African descent, and on an additional protocol to the Convention on the criminalisation of acts of racist and xenophobic nature. The High Commissioner had also published a second follow-up report on racial justice and equality, focusing on Africans and people of African descent. In the report, the High Commissioner called on States to take concrete and special measures to effectively implement all components of the right to participate in public affairs for people of African descent. Furthermore, he urged States to adopt far-reaching legal, policy and institutional measures to dismantle systemic racism in all areas of life – developed, implemented and monitored with the meaningful participation of people of African descent.
The Office of the High Commissioner continued to convene consultations to inform its work to advance the implementation of the High Commissioner’s Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality. The latest consultations, held in Panama, brought together civil society activists of African descent from eight countries in Central America. The next one would be held in Asia in January. The Office also held public events, most recently regarding participation in public affairs for people of African descent last month, and disaggregated data to advance the human rights of people of African descent, to take place this month. Throughout its work, the Office sought to build upon concluding observations and other work of the Committee and other United Nations human rights mechanisms. It was currently hosting its annual Fellowship Programme for People of African Descent. All in all, about 150 fellows were trained on international human rights standards in Geneva. The Secretary-General had also recently submitted a report to the General Assembly on reparatory justice.
The Office continued to support the strengthening of the treaty bodies. It was confident that the conclusions adopted by the Chairs of the treaty bodies at their thirty-fifth annual meeting held in New York in May and June 2023, and the related Office Working Paper had the potential to significantly improve the Committee’s work, and that of the treaty body system as a whole. In New York, the Chairs focused their discussions on the harmonisation of working methods and agreed, among other things, to establish a coordination mechanism for the simplification and harmonisation of the Committees’ working methods and substantive coordination on common and intersectional issues. The Chairs also considered the options for the rolling out of the eight-year predictable review calendar. The High Commissioner held an informal briefing with Member States on 1 November 2023 in Geneva, which was well attended, to solicit the views and preferences of Member States on the options and guiding questions in the Working Paper. In a subsequent process, the High Commissioner intended to reach out to Member States in the spring of 2024 in New York. The discussions both in Geneva and in New York would facilitate the development of the next biennial General Assembly resolution on the human rights treaty body system in December 2024, which should include a budget to implement the conclusions.
Treaty bodies’ work was increasing in quantitative terms and in substantive scope. The staffing shortage significantly impacted the work of all members and Secretariat staff. In concluding remarks, Mr. Boychenko said that during this busy session, the Committee would consider the reports of six States parties from diverse regions of the world and examine individual complaints under article 14 of the Convention. He wished it a very successful and productive session.
NOUREDDIN AMIR, Committee Expert, said that one State continued to take a stand against the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Six million Jews died in the Holocaust while Europe looked on. Today, there was a new holocaust and it was the Palestinian people who were paying the price. The United Nations had been unable to firmly condemn this attack and prevent violations of international law. The serious Palestine issue had persisted for 75 years. The Palestinians were again being chased from their land. Until when would all remain silent. Enough was enough. Children, youth, women and the elderly were being killed before the international community. Hospitals and ambulances were being destroyed. Until when would this be allowed. People had taken to the street to protest across the world. The Expert called on American society and the entire international community to protest the massacres and called on the international community to implement effective resolutions. Israel was a true terrorist State. There needed to be an end to this mass killing of the human race. The International Criminal Court had been seized of the matter, but the State in question did not recognise the court. This was truly a holocaust, and the international community needed to put an end to it.
GAY MCDOUGALL, Committee Expert, said that the Committee gathered at the United Nations in a sense of grief and questioning. They needed to question themselves on this seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United Nations was not in charge of the world. However, there was a serious gap between the work being done in the United Nations and the situation on the ground in regions of conflict, particularly the Middle East. The Committee had issued a very important statement on the situation in the Middle East in the early days of the current conflict through its early warning and urgent action procedures. It had formed a commission for consultation with the two States parties in question to seek a resolution to the issue, but it had achieved no results as one of the States parties had refused to cooperate. The mechanisms in place to fight against racism needed to join forces to address the issue. The work of the Committee was being seriously questioned currently by the ongoing conflict.
YURY BOYCHENKO, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said that he shared the sentiments and anger expressed by the Committee members. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights felt powerless in the face of this issue. It was doing its best, but the situation was unfolding dramatically. He expressed his personal view that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was being violated. Words and emotions were not enough, he said. Urgent, strong action was needed.
VERENE ALBERTHA SHEPERD, Committee Chairperson, said that, despite the international environment in which conflicts were escalating and peace waning, the Committee shared a common concern for the creation of a world in which racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance played no part. It believed in the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the group of international instruments adopted after World War II to protect the human rights and inherent dignity and the equal rights of the human family. This was more relevant than ever on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the thirtieth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The Committee felt powerless to do what needed to be done in the world.
This was a worrying time for everyone who believed in peace and the ending of conflicts and hostilities against vulnerable people, especially when racial discrimination was the root cause. The Committee had consistently raised alarm that systemic racism and structural racial discrimination persisted, in particular against colonised peoples, who consistently experienced marginalisation and discrimination with respect to economic, social and cultural rights and their participation in public and political affairs. The Committee called for ambitious and effective measures to end systemic racism and structural discrimination. It also called for the implementation of its general recommendation 36 as it was concerned about continued racial profiling by law enforcement officials.
Jamaican Marcus Mosiah Garvey once said that “great principles, great ideals, know no nationality.” What we did today that was worthwhile inspired others to act at some future time. The Committee needed to carry on with its agenda, but would continue to consider how it could influence decision-makers and address the situation in the Middle East.
In closing, Ms. Shepherd expressed hope for fruitful interactive dialogues with Bolivia, Morocco, Germany, South Africa, Bulgaria and Viet Nam, as well as with different stakeholders including non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutes.
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CERD23.015E