STATES PARTIES TO ANTI-RACISM CONVENTION ELECT NINE EXPERT MEMBERS TO COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Press Release
RD/880
STATES PARTIES TO ANTI-RACISM CONVENTION ELECT NINE EXPERT MEMBERS TO COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
19980114 The States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination this morning elected nine members to the Committee which monitors that treaty's implementation. They will replace those whose term will expire on 19 January.The 18 expert members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination are nominated by governments and serve in their personal capacity for four-year terms. They examine reports from States parties to the Convention, which entered into force on 4 January 1969.
The following seven experts were re-elected by secret ballot: Rudiger Wolfrum (Germany), Agha Shahi (Pakistan), Michael Banton (United Kingdom), Regis de Gouttes (France), Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr (Egypt), Michael Sherifis (Cyprus) and Carlos Lechuga Hevia (Cuba). Two new members, Gay McDougall (United States) and Peter Nobel (Sweden), were also elected.
The other nine members of the Committee who will continue to serve until 19 January 2000 are: Thedoor van Boven (Netherlands), Ion Diaconu (Romania), Eduardo Ferrero Costa (Peru), Ivan Garvalov (Bulgaria), Yuri Rechetov (Russian Federation), Shanti Sadiq Ali (India), Luis Valencia Rodriguez (Ecuador), Mario Jorge Yutzis (Argentina) and Zou Deci (China).
The Committee's financing was also on the agenda. The States parties had before them a report of the Secretary-General recalling that by resolution 47/111, the General Assembly had endorsed an amendment to article 8 of the Convention deciding that the Committee would be entirely funded from the United Nations regular budget. In 1992, the States parties had decided that the amendment would enter into force when accepted by a two-thirds majority of the parties.
At its fifty-first session, the Assembly adopted resolution 51/80 on 12 December 1996, by which it urged States parties to accelerate their domestic ratification procedures regarding the amendment to the Convention on the financing of the Committee. As of 30 August 1997, notifications of acceptance had been received from 23 States parties to the Convention, far below the required two thirds needed for the amendment to take effect.
The report states that in 1997, the Committee's two regular sessions were financed from the regular budget in accordance with resolution 47/111. Consequently, no State party assessments were made in 1997. However, a number of States parties were still in arrears from the non-payment of previous assessments. As of 30 September, the total outstanding arrears amounted to $224,499.03, as detailed in annex II of the report.
This morning, in accordance with Assembly resolution 52/110 of 12 December 1997, States parties who had not yet ratified the amendment to the Convention were asked to speed up their domestic procedures for doing so. Furthermore, States parties that were still in arrears were urged to fulfil their obligations concerning the financing of the Committee as soon as possible.
The meeting was opened the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, on behalf of the Secretary-General. The officers of the meeting were Ali Hachani (Tunisia), Chairman; and Jacques L. Boisson (Monaco), Maurice Moor (Bahamas) and Chang Beom Cho (Republic of Korea), Vice-Chairmen.
Statement by Representative of Secretary-General
HANS CORELL, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, speaking on behalf of the Secretary-General, said that since the last meeting of States parties in January 1996, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi and Saudi Arabia had adhered to the Convention. At its sessions in 1996 and 1997, the Committee had considered the reports of 41 States parties. In an effort to re-establish a dialogue with States parties whose reports were seriously overdue, the Committee had continued its practice of reviewing the implementation of the Convention and reviewed the situation in 26 such States.
Since January 1996, the Committee had adopted four general recommendations dealing with the nature of obligations under article 5 of the Convention; with the right to self-determination; the rights of refugees and persons displaced on the basis of ethnic criteria; and the rights of indigenous peoples.
He said the Committee had further developed its early-warning measures and urgent action procedures, by which it endeavours to respond more effectively to imminent or actual situations of widespread racial discrimination or racially motivated violence. The Committee had also carried out its functions pursuant to article 14 whereby it considers communications from individuals or groups who allege that their rights under the Convention have been violated. Twenty-four States parties had made the declaration under article 14 permitting communications to be considered concerning their responsibilities under the Convention.
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(They are Algeria, Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine and Uruguay.)
Other Matters
A representative of the Secretariat read out a letter dated 16 September 1997 from Michael Banton (United Kingdom), Chairman of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. According to the Chairman, the Committee had asked him to draw attention to the following points:
-- First, that States parties be reminded that members of the Committee serve in their personal capacity;
-- Second, that States parties support a request by the Committee to convene an occasional meeting in New York to better establish a dialogue with States that have not submitted initial and periodic reports on time, as that would help small States, in particular, that did not maintain diplomatic representation in Geneva, where Committee meetings are routinely held;
-- Concerning the report of the Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights on more effective functioning of treaty bodies (document E/CN.4/1997/74), the Committee trusted that no action would be taken without consulting it and other treaty bodies -- the Committee's views on that report are contained in chapter VI of its report contained in document A/52/18;
-- Noting that it had not been consulted before the decision to appoint a Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia or on the convening of a World Conference on Racism and Racial Discrimination, the Committee trusted that proper use would be made of its expertise, including on matters related to the Conference; and
-- The Committee proposed that one of its members address the General Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) and States parties about its recent work.
On a related matter, JOHAN SCHALIN (Finland), speaking on behalf of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, said the Committee had an important role to play in preparing for the Conference. He welcomed discussion within the United Nations to improve the functioning of the human rights treaty system. More resources should be made available to the Committee. The backlog of country reports and insufficient preliminary preparations of the reports should be addressed as a matter of priority. It was of utmost importance that Committee members be highly qualified, independent and devoted and that operational resources be guaranteed. Committee procedures in the hearing of
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government reports should be comparable to other human rights monitoring bodies.
States Parties to Convention
The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 21 December 1965 and entered into force on 4 January 1969. As of 14 January, the 150 States parties to the Convention are as follows: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See and Hungary.
Also parties to the Convention are Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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