The 100th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination provides an opportunity to celebrate the major achievements of the first UN treaty body, which started to operate 50 year ago.
On this occasion, ISHR responded to the invitation of the Committee and the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality), the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Minority Rights Group International (MRG) to underline the importance for civil society of the treaty and the work of the Committee.
Speaking about the procedures and methods of work of the Committee, ISHR emphasized the uniqueness and crucial importance of the early warning and urgent action procedure, and we called for an enhancement of transparency, notably through a public disclosure by the Committee of States parties responses.
ISHR also called for more transparency in the individual communications, including through the provision of public information on cases pending review by the Committee, in line with the practices of other UN treaty bodies. Finally, ISHR encouraged the Committee and its OHCHR Secretariat to provide more and regular information on inter-state complaints, as well as follow up to concluding observations and views, to which NGO inputs are critical.
#CERD100th Hoy en compañía de expertos y expertas del Comité para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial de la @ONU_es conmemoramos su sesión número 100. Agradecemos su incansable trabajo por la erradicación de todas la formas de discriminación racial en el mundo pic.twitter.com/eLJ3huxqni
— Race and Equality (@raceandequality) December 9, 2019
Read more in the ISHR submission to the Committee.
Contact: Vincent Ploton [email protected]
Photo credit: Race & Equality
Local authorities have accepted a global civil society petition to place a permanent tribute to Chinese human rights defender Cao Shunli, a victim of deadly State reprisals by China, in a prominent location at the heart of Geneva’s international quarter.
A newly-released confidential letter by a UN Special Rapporteur documents the disbarment of human rights lawyers in China and the tightening ideological control over lawyers and law firms. The UN expert denounces disappearances, closed-door trials, harassment of relatives, travel bans, and other abuses targeting human rights lawyers.
On Tuesday 16 April 2024, ISHR delivered to both Geneva’s Administrative Council and its legislative counterpart, the Municipal Council, physical copies of the more than 1000 signatures collected in support of a memorial honouring Chinese human rights defender Cao Shunli.
