UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

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Committee against Racial Discrimination
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
 
Organization type Technical Committee
Abbreviation CERD
management Noureddine AMIR
Founded 4 January 1969
Headquarters Geneva
Upper organization UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
 

The Committee against Racial Discrimination, CERD ( Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ,) is a control body set up by the UN , which monitors the implementation of and compliance with the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) by the signatory states and makes recommendations how to improve the implementation of the contract.

The CERD consists of 18 experts and meets twice a year for about three weeks in Geneva (Art. 8 ICERD).

tasks and activities

Its tasks are set out in Part 2 ICERD and its activities relate exclusively to states that ratified the ICERD Agreement (Art. 17 ICERD); it also depends on which declarations and reservations the states made when the treaty was concluded (Art. 20 ICERD).

Its main activity consists in the examination of the state reports (Art. 9 ICERD), the handling of individual and state complaints, whereby individual complaints are only admissible if the state expressly agreed to this when the contract was concluded. In cases of particular urgency, the committee can also carry out early warning measures or urgent procedures.

The contractual basis

The ICERD was passed by the UN General Assembly on December 21, 1965 (Resolution 2106A (XX)) and came into force on January 4, 1969 as the first of ten UN human rights treaties and has since been ratified by 179 states (as of February 2019) .

Art. 1 ICERD defines racial discrimination as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, skin color, descent, national origin or nationality, the aim or consequence of which is that an equal recognition, enjoyment or The exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms in political, economic, social, cultural or any other area of ​​public life is thwarted or impaired.

According to the ICERD, preferential treatment or differentiation between own and foreign nationals by a contracting state is permissible (Art. 2 ICERD). This sometimes creates contradictions to other UN agreements, e.g. B. Art. 2 ICESCR or Art. 24 ICCPR … Discrimination with regard to national (…) origin.

The ICERD largely overlaps with the Civil Pact and the Migrant Workers Convention, whereby the agreement that is more favorable to the person concerned applies (Art. 81 WAK, Art. 53 ECHR, Art. 46 IPBPR, Art. 24 IPWKS). The prohibition of ethnic discrimination may be a. Art. 24 ICCPR, Art. 26 ICCPR, Art. 2 ICESCR, Art. 7 ICRMW , Art. 2 CRC, the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of a disability only in the Disability Rights Convention .

Ratifications

GermanyGermany Germany LiechtensteinLiechtenstein Liechtenstein AustriaAustria Austria SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Anti-Racism Convention (ICERD) 05/16/1969 03/01/2000 05/09/1972 11/29/1994
State reports, Art. 9 ICERD Yes Yes Yes Yes
State complaints, Art. 11 ICERD Yes Yes Yes Yes
Individual complaint, Art. 14 ICERD some reservations some reservations some reservations some reservations
International Court of Justice, Art. 22 ICERD Yes Yes Yes Yes

The partial reservation on the individual complaint relates to the fact that the same complaint may not be submitted to another international body (e.g. the ECHR , another UN treaty body , etc.) ( same matter ).

Rules of Procedure

In order to carry out its tasks defined in the ICERD, the committee created rules of procedure , in which the organization, procedures and responsibilities of the committee are regulated (Art. 10 ICERD). It consists of 4 parts, Part I. General Provisions , Part II. Provisions relating to the tasks of the Committee , Part III Interpretation and Amendments and the Appendix Decision 2 (VI) on cooperation with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Organization the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) . As it contains usually called regulations and is divided into 19 chapters.

The relevant chapters of the Rules of Procedure are:

  • Cape. 15 The reporting procedure of the contracting states according to Art. 9 ICERD
  • Cape. 16 state complaints according to Art. 11 ICERD
  • Cape. 18 Receipt and examination of individual complaints according to Art. 14 ICERD

Examination of the state reports

The predominant activity consists in the evaluation of the periodic reports of the contracting states, in which they have to explain how they are implementing the treaty (Art. 9 ICERD). The test procedure is described in chap. 15 of the Rules of Procedure and the committee issued a guideline on how to submit these reports. If a state does not submit a report, the committee notes this in its annual report to the General Assembly (Rule 66 Rules of Procedure).

States parties should the Committee within one year of entry into force of the Agreement an initial report (Engl. Initial report ) submitted (Art. 9 para. 1 lit a ICERD), every two years thereafter a periodic state report (Engl. Periodical reports ) as often as the committee demands (Art. 9 para. 1 lit a ICERD). Since 1988, the Committee has requested, on a proposal from the States parties, that they submit a comprehensive report only every four years and a brief report on recent developments in the two years in between.

At the state reporting procedure also can non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights organizations (NHRIs) actively participate and submit parallel reports to the state reports, show an inadequate implementation of ICERD by States Parties. In doing so, gaps or errors in the state report can be clarified and deficits pointed out. Such parallel reports can be very informative for the committee.

The committee draws up a list of themes for the purpose of reviewing the report . The audit of the report takes place in public meetings in which a delegation from the state answers questions from committee members. The Committee tries to determine whether the State party has correctly implemented the ICERD and how it can remedy existing shortcomings. For the participation of third parties at the public hearing admission is required (Engl. Accreditation ).

If, during the review of the report, the committee finds that the state has not fulfilled its contractual obligations under the Convention, it can make suggestions and make general recommendations on how to remedy these deficiencies (Art. 9 Para. 2 ICERD, Rule 67 et seq. Proceedings). These are referred to as " Concluding Observations ".

The recommendations are not legally binding. The implementation of the recommendations cannot be enforced; only a follow-up procedure is provided in which a reporter reviews the implementation of the recommendations by the state and, if necessary, is discussed again in the next review of the state report. There are no sanctions against the state concerned.

Since some states are not fulfilling their contractual obligations and are not submitting any reports or are late in submitting reports, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) created a list in which the states are listed that submit all their reports on time (e.g. Italy , Switzerland, etc.) and a list of the countries that are partially behind schedule (e.g. Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, the Vatican, etc.).

State complaints

Articles 11–13 of the ICERD give the Committee the power to deal with any complaint by a State Party against another State Party that fails to comply with the provisions of the Treaty. This procedure is defined in Chapters 16 and 17 of the VerfO-FP. In contrast to individual complaints, there are no high formal requirements for state complaints and the UNHCHR Secretariat is not authorized to declare state complaints inadmissible, as is the case with individual complaints.

After such a complaint has been received, an ad hoc settlement committee will be formed (Art. 12 ICERD) to try to settle the dispute. Regardless of whether the dispute could be settled or not, a final report is drawn up, which contains the subject matter of the dispute and the recommendations of the settlement commission that it deems appropriate for the purpose of an amicable settlement. The committee chairman forwards this report to each state involved in the dispute. They will inform him within three months whether or not they will accept the recommendations contained in the Commission's report. If no agreement can be reached, there is no further consequence. (Art. 13 ICERD).

In the event of a dispute over the interpretation or application of the ICERD that could not be resolved, the complaining State may request that the case be referred to the International Court of Justice for decision. However, you can also use other international procedures to resolve disputes (Art. 22 ICERD). As a precaution, 20 states rejected the International Court of Justice immediately when the treaty was signed.

Individual complaints

The individual complaints are euphemistically referred to as communications. If a state expressly consented to the individual complaint procedure when the contract was concluded (Rule 80 Rules of Procedure), the committee can also examine individual complaints against this contracting state (Art. 14 (1) ICERD).

The High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) created a model complaint form and a corresponding information sheet. The procedures for the complaint procedure are described in Chap. 18 of the Rules of Procedure, as well as the formal requirements for individual complaints (Rule 84 Rules of Procedure) and the requirements for their admissibility (Rule 91 Rules of Procedure).

The complaint must be submitted in writing, it must not be anonymous and must be written in one of the working languages ​​of the committee, for which the national legal process must be unsuccessful. The complaint must be submitted within 6 months of the last domestic decision (Rule 91 lit. f Rules of Procedure). Submissions made after this deadline will be declared inadmissible ( ratione temporis ). The complaint can also be rejected on the grounds that the committee is not competent because the alleged violation is not included in the ICERD ( ratione materiae ) or it constitutes an abuse of the right to complain. Several states made the same matter - reservation to the individual complaint procedure, according to which the same complaint may not be submitted to another international body (e.g. the ECHR , another UN treaty body , etc.).

The complaints submitted to the UN are first formally examined by the UNHCHR Secretariat (rule 84 Rules of Procedure). Then the complaint is either rejected or registered and then forwarded to the committee, which in turn examines the substantive admissibility of the complaint (rule 86 Rules of Procedure).

If the complaint has been rejected by the secretariat, the complainant will be informed of this in a standard letter. For the rejection of the complaints submitted to the CERD, CAT and the CCPR, it uses the same form, in which mostly insufficient reasons are ticked, although this is not provided for and information would have to be obtained instead (Rule 84, Paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure). Only complaints forwarded to the committee will be registered by the secretariat. No statistics are kept on the number of complaints already rejected by the Secretariat.

If the complaint has been accepted, it will be forwarded to the state concerned for a statement, whereupon the latter can raise the objection of inadmissibility (Art. 14 (6) lit a ICERD, Rule 94 (1) Rules of Procedure). The committee is also trying to reach an amicable agreement. If the contracting state agrees, this is recorded in a decision ( discontinuance decision ) and the case is settled.

The committee then examines the substantive admissibility of the complaint. If he declared the complaint to be inadmissible, then - in contrast to the Secretariat - he justified his decision of the inadmissibility. Only afterwards does the committee deal with the content of the complaint (Rule 95 Rules of Procedure). If the committee found a breach of contract, it issues proposals and recommendations to the state on how to remedy this (Art. 14 (7) lit b ICERD).

The state party concerned is then asked to inform the committee how it has implemented its proposals and recommendations (Rule 95, Paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure). The recommendations are not legally binding, their implementation cannot be enforced, only a follow-up procedure is provided in which the implementation of the recommendations is checked by the state and, if necessary, it will be discussed in the next state reporting process. Sanctions are not provided against fallible states.

Precautionary measures

When submitting an individual complaint, precautionary measures ( interim measures ) can be requested at the same time if irreparable damage threatens. Such requests must be marked Urgent Interim measures as soon as possible so that the Secretariat has sufficient time to examine the request and - if the complaint was not rejected - to order such measures.

The committee can also order precautionary measures of its own accord, but they do not constitute a decision on the admissibility of the complaint or the determination of a breach of contract by the state (Rule 94, Paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure).

Reservations on complaints to the committee and the ECHR

If a state made the same matter - reservation, a complaint, for example regarding Art. 6 ICERD and Art. 13 ECHR, right to an effective complaint, may not be submitted to the committee and the ECHR at the same time , as these are the same facts. However, it is permissible to lodge a complaint with the committee for a violation of Art. 3 ICERD Segregation and with the ECHR a complaint against Art. 12 ECHR right to marry , as there is no overlap but rather different breaches of contract by the same state.

There are complaints that were first submitted to the ECHR, but were not accepted by it, with the standard reasoning: the complaint has no appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Convention (ECHR) or its additional protocols . The complaint that was then submitted to the UN committee was rejected on the grounds that it had allegedly been examined by the ECHR, although the ECHR did not examine the substance of the complaint but did not receive it.

In accordance with decision no. 577/2013 of the CAT committee of February 9, 2016, within the meaning of NB c. Russia for torture. The complainant had at the same time submitted an identical complaint to the ECHR (No. 33772/13), which is why the CAT committee rejected the complaint (see decision RZ 8.2). In the judgment database HUDOC of the ECHR, however, there is no judgment with the No. 33772/13, as the complaint was refused by the law firm and struck from the register - and therefore not examined by the ECHR.

In contrast to the UN committees, the ECHR rejects individual complaints, which essentially correspond to a complaint previously examined by the ECHR (Art. 35 (2) lit b ECHR).

Early warning measures and urgent procedures

The ICERD does not provide for an investigation procedure for serious or systematic breaches of contract by a state. For this reason, the committee developed preventive measures in order to be able to react quickly to threatening situations in its area of ​​responsibility and thus to prevent the escalation of conflicts. These include early warning measures (Engl. Early Warning Measures ) and express procedure (Engl. Urgent Procedures ).

General remarks

The interpretation and clarification of certain provisions in the Anti-Racism Convention, the Committee published General remarks (English. General comments ). They are intended to dispel misunderstandings and to assist the contracting states in fulfilling their contractual obligations.

Decisions of the CERD

Decide
States Pending impermissible set violation No violation Registered
GermanyGermany Germany 0 0 0 1 1 2
LiechtensteinLiechtenstein Liechtenstein 0 0 0 0 0 0
AustriaAustria Austria 0 0 0 0 0 0
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 1 0 0 0 1 2
55 states in total 6th 18th 1 15th 15th 55

The figures do not contain the complaints already rejected by the Secretariat of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The individual decisions can also be called up in the UN database.

Germany

The Turkish Federation had lodged a complaint with the committee after Thilo Sarrazin had made contemptuous comments about people of Turkish and Arab origin in an interview in the cultural newspaper Lettre International . The Berlin public prosecutor's office had closed the case against the former SPD finance minister because they saw his words as free expression. The CERD left no doubt that Sarrazin's statements were racist, that the right to freedom of expression has limits and that this includes, in particular, the spread of racist ideas.

Members of the CERD

Membership table
Mr. ALBUQUERQUE E. SILVA Silvio José BrazilBrazil Brazil 02/19/22
Mr. AMIR Noureddine AlgeriaAlgeria Algeria 02/19/22
Mr. AVTONOMOV Alexei S. RussiaRussia Russia 02/19/20
Mr. BOSSUYT Marc BelgiumBelgium Belgium 02/19/22
Mr. CALI TZAY Jose Francisco GuatemalaGuatemala Guatemala 02/19/20
Ms. CHUNG Chinsung Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea 02/19/22
Ms. DAH Fatimata-Binta Victoire Burkina FasoBurkina Faso Burkina Faso 02/19/20
Mr. DIABY Bakari Sidiki Ivory CoastIvory Coast Ivory Coast 02/19/22
IZSÁK-NDIAYE Rita HungaryHungary Hungary 02/19/22
Ms. KO Keiko JapanJapan Japan 02/19/22
Mr. KUT Gun TurkeyTurkey Turkey 02/19/22
Ms. LI Yanduan China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China 02/19/20
Mr. MARUGÁN Nicolás SpainSpain Spain 02/19/20
Ms. MCDOUGALL Gay United StatesUnited States United States 02/19/20
Ms. MOHAMED Yemhelhe Mint MauritaniaMauritania Mauritania 02/19/20
Mr. MURILLO MARTINEZ Pastor Elias ColombiaColombia Colombia 02/19/20
Ms. SHEPHERD Verene Albertha JamaicaJamaica Jamaica 02/19/20
Mr. YEUNG SIK YUEN Yeung Kam John MauritiusMauritius Mauritius 02/19/22

German members of the committee included the later constitutional judges Brun-Otto Bryde and Gabriele Britz .

Additional information

Reports on the state reports

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The abbreviation CERD is used in all other official languages ​​of the committee except in Russian, including Arabic and Chinese for this also by the German Foreign Office
  2. ↑ On January 4th, 1969 the contract came into force, see Art. 19 ICERD. The first election took place after 6 months, Art. 8 Para. 3 ICERD
  3. ^ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Website of the CERD committee with detailed information. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  4. ↑ Human Rights Bodies. UN human rights organs. Published by: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights UNHCHR, accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  5. ^ Tasks of the ICERD committee. Published by Praetor Intermedia UG , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  6. ↑ The UN Committee of Experts on the Anti-Racism Convention. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Membership. The experts at CERD. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  8. ↑ Working methods. How the ICERD Committee works. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  9. ↑ The state is only obliged under international law to comply with the treaty after ratification. In Germany, the dualistic system applies, in which the contract must first be transformed into national law before it becomes justiciable. In Lichtenstein, Austria and Switzerland the monistic system applies, according to which the treaty becomes applicable immediately upon ratification.
  10. ↑ According to Art. 2 WVK, a “reservation” is a unilateral declaration made by a state when it joins a treaty, by means of which the state aims to exclude or change the legal effect of individual treaty provisions in this state
  11. ↑ a b c d Status of Treaties. Ratification status, reservations and declarations to the ICERD agreement. In: Treaty collection of the UN UNTC. Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b c State reporting procedure. In: The Anti-Racism Convention (ICERD). Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  13. ↑ a b control procedure. In: ICERD Agreement. Published by: Humanrights.ch , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b Individual Communications. Individual complaints to a UN treaty body. In: Human Rights Bodies. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  15. ↑ a b Inter-State Complaints. State complaints. In: Human Rights Bodies. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  16. ↑ Human rights treaty . Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  17. ^ The Anti-Racism Convention (ICERD). Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  18. ^ The Core International Human Rights Instruments. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  19. ↑ List of abbreviations for international and regional human rights protection. (PDF) Ed .: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Rules of procedure. Rules of Procedure of the CERD Committee. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English). Version: CERD / C / 35 / Rev.3, in all UN languages, 224 pages, 5.6 MB
  21. ↑ Procedure Rules of Procedure. (PDF) Version: CERD / C / 35 / Rev.3. Published by: UN German Translation Service, accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  22. ^ Submission of reports by States parties under article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention. General guidelines on the form and content of the reports to be submitted by the contracting states in accordance with Art. 9 Paragraph 1 ICERD. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English). Version: CERD / C / 70/2 dated December 20, 2006
  23. ^ Information for Civil Society Organizations. Information for NGOs. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  24. ^ Info from Civil Society Organizations. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  25. ↑ Info from NHRIs. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  26. ^ Lists of themes. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  27. ↑ Admission to negotiations with the committee. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  28. ↑ Concluding Observations. Final observations. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  29. ↑ a b Legal instruments. (PDF) In: ABC of Human Rights. Published by: Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, FDFA, p. 10 , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Follow-up to concluding observations procedure. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  31. ↑ Guidelines to follow-up on concluding observations and recommendations. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  32. ↑ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  33. ^ List of States parties without overdue reports - Late and non-reporting States. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  34. ^ State complaints. In: The Anti-Racism Convention. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Individual complaint procedure . In: The Anti-Racism Convention. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Individual complaint procedure . In: UN Committee against Racial Discrimination. Published by: Humanrights.ch , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  37. ↑ Individual complaint procedure . Procedure under the ICERD. In: Procedure for complaints by individuals. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  38. ↑ Model complaint form. (Doc) Complaint form for the CERD, CAT, CCPR committee. Published by UNHCHR , accessed March 1, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Fact Sheet No. 12. (PDF) Information sheet on the complaints procedure. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  40. ↑ New rule of procedure on follow-up to opinions adopted on individual communications. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  41. ↑ Decision No. 577/2013 of the CAT iS NB c. Russia for torture. Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Inquiries. Investigation procedure for systemic breaches of contract. Published by: UNHCHR , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  43. ^ About the early warning measures and urgent procedures. Early warning measures and urgent procedures. Published by: CERD , accessed on March 1, 2019 (English).
  44. ↑ Early warning measures and urgent procedures. In: The Anti-Racism Convention (ICERD). Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  45. ↑ General comments. General remarks. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  46. ↑ General Recommendations. In: Anti-Racism Convention. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on March 1, 2019 .
  47. ^ Statistics of the committee . Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  48. ↑ UN decision database
  49. ↑ Decision No. 48/2010 of the CERD on statements by Thilo Sarrazin. Editor: CERD , accessed on March 2, 2019 (English).
  50. ↑ When the United Nations speaks of racism - and Germany doesn't. Published by: Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), accessed on March 2, 2019 .