COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OPENS SIXTY-FIFTH SESSION

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

OPENS SIXTY-FIFTH SESSION

Hears Address by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 2 August (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning opened its sixty-fifth session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva by hearing an address by High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

In her statement, Ms. Arbour said the treaty body system was key to the work of the United Nations in the area of human rights and was “crucial to the realization of peoples’ universal aspiration for peace, justice, equality and social progress”.

While paying tribute to the Committee for its work in the area of non-citizens and racial discrimination, the High Commissioner said its work in this area was especially “important at a time when xenophobia against non-nationals, particularly migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, constitutes a most disturbing form of contemporary racism”.  Among other things, Ms. Arbour commended the Committee for its work in the area of combating terrorism and said it was a crucial supplement to the work of the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee.

The Committee also adopted its programme of work for the session during which it will consider country reports received from Madagascar, Belarus, Mauritania, Slovakia, Argentina, Tajikistan, Portugal and Kazakhstan.

The Committee decided to continue its work during this session on its draft general comment on non-citizens, which it will take up on Thursday, 5 August in the morning.  Moreover, it will hold a meeting with the International Law Commission on Tuesday, 3 August in the afternoon.

The Committee will discuss the follow-up to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerances on Wednesday, 4 August in its afternoon session.

Among the agenda items to be discussed in addition to considering country reports are the prevention of racial discrimination through early warning measures and urgent action procedures; consideration of petitions and copies of reports relating to Non-Self Governing Territories; and reservations made by States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Committee will also study, in closed session, communications from individuals claiming to be victims of racial discrimination.

The Committee will meet at 3 p.m. this afternoon to begin its consideration of the report of Madagascar (CERD/C/476/Add.1).

Statements

LOUISE ARBOUR, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, reaffirmed what her predecessors had underlined, namely, that the treaty body system was a central pillar to the United Nations human rights edifice adding that the successful implementation of the main human rights treaties was “crucial to the realization of peoples’ universal aspiration for peace, justice, equality and social progress”.

The High Commissioner recalled that during her four years as Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda she had a difficult task of dealing with some of the worst excesses of intolerance and injustice and the grossest abuses of the most basic human rights committed against thousands women and men, young and old.  She said, “we need to work together to ensure that the root causes of such conflicts are addressed through combating racial discrimination and promoting the principle of equality.

Ms. Arbour welcomed the measures taken by the Committee and the possibility of taking additional actions to address grave situations including early warning measures and urgent actions procedures aimed at preventing or limiting the scale or number of serious violations of the Convention.

“It is important to recall that no country can claim to be free of racism and racial discrimination”, the High Commissioner said, thus expressing the important role the Committee played in relation to countries confronted with particularly grave situations, but also for States that must continue to combat racism.  She commended the Committee for engaging in dialogue with States parties when considering their periodic reports by which served as a useful tool.

The fundamental human right standards of equality and non-discrimination should be protected for all, Ms. Arbour said.  In this context, she noted with interest the thematic discussion which the Committee held at its last session on non-citizens and racial discrimination and that it had worked on elaborating a new general recommendation on this issue.  “Your work in this area”, she added, “is particularly important at a time when xenophobia against non-nationals, particularly migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, constitutes a most disturbing form of contemporary racism.”

Ms. Arbour also drew attention the statement adopted by the Committee in March 2002 which underlined the obligation of States “to ensure that measures taken in the struggle against terrorism do not discriminate in purpose or effect on grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin”.  The Committee’s work in this area and that of the treaty bodies, she added, provided a crucial supplement to the work of the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Concerning the Third Inter-Committee Meeting, in which the Committee on Racial Discrimination’s Chairman and two members took part in June this year, the High Commissioner recalled that the meeting designated Kamel Filali, a member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, to act as rapporteur with regard to the reform of the treaty body’s procedure.  The Rapporteur would work with the High Commissioner’s Office in preparation of next year’s meeting, she affirmed.  Ms. Arbour noted that Mr. Filali would discuss with the Committee on 19 August the draft guidelines in this regard.

Ms. Arbour also expressed her hope that the number of States parties to the Convention who had made the declaration under article 14 on communications would increase from 45.

In conclusion, the High Commissioner said there was a need to make the recommendations and jurisprudence of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies more accessible and more visible and that it was regrettable that they remained unknown to a large number of the general public, as well as to a vast majority of members of the legal profession, including many human rights lawyers.  She said, “this situation must change in order to foster a consistent evolution and application of human rights standards worldwide”.

Discussion

Several Committee Members expressed their appreciation to the High Commissioner for her statement and wished her well on her new assignment and also paid tribute to her Office for its professionalism and for the excellent cooperation the Committee had with it.   Several of them posed comments and questions to her.  One expert welcomed the designation of a Rapporteur to look into the question of a reformed treaty body system, adding that this new office should be linked to other existing United Nations human rights mechanisms and that the relation between the implementation of treaty body systems on the national and international levels should be strengthened further.

Other Committee Experts expressed concern that more needed to be done in order to share the findings of the Committee with the general public.  Referring to the reporting procedures, an expert asked what was being done in terms of circulating the Committee’s concluding reports to the General Assembly.

In response to a question on whether there had been any follow-up action by the Secretary-General’s Office to the Stockholm International Forum 2004 on Preventing Genocide:  Threats and Responsibilities, which took place in Stockholm from 26 to 28 January 2004, High Commissioner Arbour noted the recent appointment of a Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on genocide prevention.

In response to a question posed by a Committee Member on the omission of religion in the High Commissioner’s statement, Ms. Arbour said the Commission was fully cognizant of how religion could be the focal point of discrimination and in her opinion religion was a very private matter which deserved attention of full protection.

Lastly, the High Commissioner assured the Committee that she would follow the progress on the reports being considered during the sixty-fifth session with great interest.

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*     Press Release RD/173 of 29 July should have been Press Release RD/983.