Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Opens One Hundred and Fourteenth Session in Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning opened its one hundred and fourteenth session in Geneva, during which it will review anti-discrimination efforts by Armenia, Ecuador, Greece, Kenya, Monaco and Saudi Arabia.  The Committee heard from a representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and adopted the session’s agenda.

Sara Hamood, Director, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General, opened the one hundred and fourteenth session of the Committee.

She said that today, 25 November, was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This year, the “UNiTE/16 Days” campaign would mobilise around the priorities of the Beijing+30 review, emphasising the urgency of strengthening accountability for violence against women and girls.  The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would focus on the diverse forms of gender-based violence faced by women and girls in conflict settings, which could have a serious racial discrimination dimension.  The campaign called on all duty bearers to take action around the priorities of the Beijing Platform for Action and Political Declaration, promoting recommitment, accountability and resourcing.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his address to the seventy-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, warned of intensifying and spreading conflicts, threats to international law, and broad impunity, Ms. Hamood reported. He noted that “hatred – based on sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, or other characteristics – is roaring ahead, fuelling discrimination, divisions and violence”, alongside climate change and threats to the promise of the Agenda for Sustainable Development.  He stated that “It is precisely in the context of such crises that human rights offer effective solutions”.

In this context, Ms. Hamood paid tribute to the Committee’s important work and significant contributions in promoting and protecting the human rights of all people without discrimination, including its recommendations on how States must address the racial discrimination dimensions of these pressing challenges.  Next year would mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Convention, an opportunity to explore avenues to generate greater political will and action to fight racial discrimination, as well as to reflect on achievements.

Ms. Hamood said that at the fifty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner presented his fourth report on racial justice and equality for Africans and people of African descent, which focused on key elements of intersectionality as an essential framework to combat systemic racism and confront legacies of enslavement and colonialism.  Drawing on concluding observations of the Committee, it exposed systemic racism and multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by Africans and people of African descent in different regions.  The High Commissioner also presented an oral update on racism, emphasising the need for action to address the rise of racism in sport.

Ms. Hamood also described the reports presented by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, the Expert Mechanism to advance racial justice and equality in the context of law enforcement, and the Group of Independent Eminent Experts on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.  The Council, she said, adopted resolution 57/24 on “Education as a tool to prevent racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” which stressed the need for States parties to implement fully their obligations under the Convention, and its regular resolution “From rhetoric to reality: a global call for concrete action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”

Further, Ms. Hamood introduced reports presented at the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.  At the session, the General Assembly adopted its regular resolution “A global call for concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action”.  On 13 August 2024, the General Assembly also decided to proclaim 25 July as the “International Day of Women and Girls of African Descent” to highlight the importance of commemorating the global fight against enslavement and racism, and the significant contribution of all women and girls of African descent to the development of societies.

This was the final year of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade provided a final assessment of progress made over the past 10 years.  It highlighted how the International Decade had contributed to the progressive consolidation of an international agenda for people of African descent, while emphasising how much remained to be done.  The Office of the High Commissioner supported the organisation of a high-level meeting to mark the closure of the International Decade in New York on 8 November 2024.  Speakers took stock of progress made and identified continuing and emerging challenges that people of African descent continued to face worldwide.

Currently, at the General Assembly, States were negotiating a resolution to proclaim a second International Decade for People of African Descent.  The High Commissioner had called for an inclusive second International Decade to sustain momentum and build on progress, highlighting that it must drive even greater efforts and even more decisive action to address both long-standing issues and growing contemporary challenges.

The Office of the High Commissioner was continuing consultations to inform its work to advance the implementation of the High Commissioner’s “Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality.”  Currently, the Office was convening virtual and in-person consultations with people of African descent from civil society, practitioners and other stakeholders from different regions, focusing on reparatory justice, to feed into upcoming dedicated work on this issue.

Ms. Hamood said this past year had been particularly challenging.  In addition to chronic resource constraints, the liquidity crisis had hampered the planning and implementation of the Committee’s work. The Office of the High Commissioner was doing its utmost to ensure that the Committee and other treaty bodies could implement their mandates, including by highlighting the direct impact that resource limitations had on human rights protection on the ground.  Nevertheless, the difficult liquidity situation was likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

The treaty body strengthening process had reached a key moment, with the adoption last week of the biennial resolution on the treaty body system by the General Assembly. While the resolution did not explicitly endorse certain key proposals of the Chairs, such as the eight-year predictable review schedule, it did contain a reference to a “clear and regularised schedule for reporting”, and extensive language on videoconferencing.  The Office would continue to work alongside the Chairs and all the treaty body experts to strengthen the system, using all the opportunities at its disposal to advance this essential work.

Ms. Hamood said a heavy programme of work was before the Committee over the next three weeks, including reviews of Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Armenia, Greece, and Kenya; preparation of lists of issues prior to reporting for Malawi, the Seychelles and Côte d’Ivoire; consideration of Portugal’s follow-up report; work on joint general recommendations with the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; and consideration of cases under the early warning and urgent action procedure and individual communications.

In concluding remarks, Ms. Hamood wished the Committee a fruitful and productive one hundred and fourteenth session.

Michal Balcerzak, Committee Chairperson, thanked Ms. Hamood for her insightful remarks and encouragement, and thanked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for its continued support for the Committee’s work.

Committee Experts took the floor in response to Ms. Hamood’s address, commenting on the concerning liquidity crisis and strategies to ensure that the Committee’s work could continue; efforts to promote the intersection of the work of the treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council; measures to address intersectionality by the treaty bodies; the murder of women and children in the occupied Palestinian territory; and the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in relation to the crisis in the Middle East.

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

The Committee will next meet in public on Tuesday, 26 November at 3 p.m. to consider the twenty-fifth periodic report of Ecuador (CERD/C/ECU/25).

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