COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OPENS FORTY-EIGHTH SESSION AT GENEVA

27 February 1996

Press Release
RD/844

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OPENS FORTY-EIGHTH SESSION AT GENEVA

19960227 Action for Third Decade against Racism And Racial Discrimination Will Be Pursued More Vigorously, Committee Told

GENEVA, 26 February (UN Information Service) -- Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination would be pursued more vigorously in 1996, the United Nations Centre for Human Rights told the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as it opened its forty-eighth session this morning.

Helga Klein-Bidmond, of the International Instruments Branch of the Centre, said that as it considered the Third Decade in the course of this session, the Committee would note the extent to which its recommendations had already been acted upon. She also recalled that since the last session of the Committee, Japan, Monaco and Uzbekistan had become parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Committee is charged with monitoring the implementation of the Convention in the 146 States parties. Zimbabwe, Russian Federation, Colombia, Denmark, United Kingdom, Finland, Hungary, Spain and Venezuela are scheduled to present to the Committee at this session their reports on the implementation of the Convention. The Committee is also expected to consider documents from States parties whose reports have been deemed to be excessively overdue -- Madagascar, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Panama, Nepal, Swaziland, Guinea, Gambia and Côte d'Ivoire.

The Committee, the first ever to be established to monitor the implementation of a human rights agreement, is composed of 18 expert members. This morning, those members elected or re-elected at the last meeting of States parties to the Convention solemnly declared to perform their duties and exercise their powers "honourably, faithfully, impartially and conscientiously". The Committee also established its Bureau: Michael Parker Banton, of the United Kingdom, was elected Chairman; Andrew Chigovera, of Zimbabwe, was elected Rapporteur; and Eduardo Ferrero Costa, of Peru, and Shanti Sadiq Ali, of India, were elected Vice-Chairmen. One more Vice-Chairman is still to be elected.

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