COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OPENS FIFTY-FIRST SESSION
Press Release
RD/878
COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OPENS FIFTY-FIRST SESSION
19970804 GENEVA, 4 August (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination began its fifty-first session this morning by adopting its agenda and reviewing a report from its Chairman on activities undertaken since the last session earlier this year.The Committee examines the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in the 148 countries that have accepted the treaty. At this session, it had been scheduled to consider reports from Algeria, Argentina, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Denmark, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia, Norway, Philippines, Poland and Sweden. This morning, Committee members said examination of Cambodia's report should be postponed given current developments in the country, the lack of response from the Mission of Cambodia in Paris and the unlikely presence of a Cambodian delegation at the Committee's proceedings. A decision on this subject will be taken subsequently.
It was also noted that Cuba, Lebanon and Yugoslavia, which had been scheduled to have their situations considered under the procedure for States with reports long overdue, had submitted reports at the last minute and were requesting discussion of them at the Committee's next session. The Committee agreed that discussion under the procedure would be limited to the following States parties to the Convention: Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Israel, Liberia, Niger and Suriname.
In addition, and as part of its continuing efforts to prevent racial discrimination, the Committee confirmed that it would examine, under its early warning and urgent procedures mechanism, the situations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Papua New Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
Also this morning, the Committee discussed organizational matters, the publicity and press coverage given to the work of the Committee, the possibility of holding meetings in other regions, and issues concerning the final conclusions and observations issued by the experts on country reports.
Members agreed on the need to better publicize the Committee's work. Several experts said records of meetings should be more detailed, giving greater attention to differing points of view and to statements of experts other than those designated to lead discussions on specific country reports,
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or country rapporteurs. A number of experts also said the Committee would benefit from holding meetings in other regions; in New York, for example, the Committee could have discussions with countries that did not have representatives in Geneva. Meeting in other countries or regions would also permit the experts to hear statements from national non-governmental organizations that did not have the means to make their work known otherwise.
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