AUSTRIA

General Comments - Government Responses

CERD A/32/18 (1977)

Annex V

Comments of States parties on general recommendation V, adopted by the Committee at its 338th meeting, on 13 April 1977 a/

[Original: English]

[18 July 1977]

Article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination obliges member States "to adopt immediate and effective measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education, culture and information, with a view to combatting prejudices which lead to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnical groups, as well as to propagating the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and this Convention".

Austria has always supported the implementation of the objectives of this article which she considers of high importance and thus welcomes general recommendation V of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The implementation of the obligations as stated in article 7 of the Convention has, however, to be viewed in the context of the particular situation of member States. The problem of racial discrimination will obviously be of particular importance for States which experience racial tensions. The importance of the problems will be of a different nature in States which experience these tensions only seldom within their frontiers. The possibilities for information on the problem areas in question will thus depend for the individual State on its domestic situation.

In this context it has to be noted that in States with a pluralistic organization of society the objectives of article 7 are often realized by non-governmental groups or organizations. In Austria there exist a large number of private associations and societies which aim at promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and which contribute continuously and actively to the realization of the objectives stated in article 7 of the Convention.

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a/ For the text, see chap. VIII, sect. A, decision 3 (XV).