A
UNITED
NATIONS
General Assembly
Distr.
GENERAL
A/48/18
15 September 1993
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
Forty-eighth session
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION*
__________
* The present document is a mimeographed version of the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The final report will be issued as Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 18 (A/48/18).
93-50216 (E) 041093 /...
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL .................................................. 6
I. ORGANIZATIONAL AND RELATED MATTERS ................... 1 - 10 8
A. States parties to the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination ................................... 1 - 2 8
B. Sessions and agenda .............................. 3 - 4 8
C. Membership and attendance ........................ 5 - 7 8
D. Officers of the Committee ........................ 8 10
E. Cooperation with the International Labour
Organisation and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization ............. 9 - 10 10
II. ACTION BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT ITS FORTY-SEVENTH
SESSION .............................................. 11 - 19 11
A. Annual report submitted by the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination under
article 9, paragraph 2, of the Convention ........ 12 11
B. Effective implementation of international
instruments on human rights, including reporting
obligations under international instruments on
human rights ..................................... 13 - 19 12
III. CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS, COMMENTS AND INFORMATION
SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 9 OF THE
CONVENTION ........................................... 20 - 573 14
A. Status of submission of reports by States parties 20 - 32 14
1. Reports received by the Committee ............ 20 - 25 14
2. Reports not yet received by the Committee .... 26 16
3. Action taken by the Committee to ensure
submission of reports by States parties ...... 27 - 32 25
B. Consideration of reports ......................... 33 - 573 26
Ukraine .......................................... 42 - 65 27
Algeria .......................................... 66 - 85 31
Qatar ............................................ 86 - 99 34
Sudan ............................................ 100 - 127 36
Ecuador .......................................... 128 - 146 40
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
Central African Republic ......................... 147 - 151 43
Jamaica .......................................... 152 - 161 44
Chad ............................................. 162 - 171 45
Mozambique ....................................... 172 - 177 46
Poland ........................................... 178 - 198 47
Republic of Korea ................................ 199 - 235 50
Zambia ........................................... 236 - 256 54
Islamic Republic of Iran ......................... 257 - 277 58
Holy See ......................................... 278 - 305 62
Nigeria .......................................... 306 - 329 65
Viet Nam ......................................... 330 - 358 69
Kuwait ........................................... 359 - 381 72
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland .......................................... 382 - 425 76
Germany .......................................... 426 - 452 84
Bosnia and Herzegovina ........................... 453 - 473 89
Croatia .......................................... 474 - 508 92
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro) ...................................... 509 - 547 97
Tonga ............................................ 548 - 559 103
Papua New Guinea ................................. 560 - 573 104
IV. CONSIDERATION OF COMMUNICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 14 OF
THE CONVENTION ....................................... 574 - 584 107
V. CONSIDERATION OF COPIES OF PETITIONS, COPIES OF
REPORTS AND OTHER INFORMATION RELATING TO TRUST AND
NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES AND TO ALL OTHER
TERRITORIES TO WHICH GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION
1514 (XV) APPLIES, IN CONFORMITY WITH ARTICLE 15 OF
THE CONVENTION ....................................... 585 - 588 109
VI. SECOND DECADE TO COMBAT RACISM AND RACIAL
DISCRIMINATION ....................................... 589 - 595 110
VII. WORLD CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS ..................... 596 - 601 111
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
VIII. DECISIONS AND GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE
AT ITS FORTY-SECOND SESSION ..................................... 113
A. Decisions ................................................... 113
1. Further information requested from certain States of the
former Yugoslavia ....................................... 113
B. General Recommendations ..................................... 113
General Recommendation XI (42) on non-citizens .............. 113
General Recommendation XII (42) on successor States ......... 114
General Recommendation XIII (42) on the training of law
enforcement officials in the protection of human rights ..... 114
General Recommendation XIV (42) on article 1, paragraph 1, of
the Convention .............................................. 115
General Recommendation XV (42) on article 4 of the
Convention .................................................. 115
General Recommendation XVI (42) concerning the application of
article 9 of the Convention ................................. 116
General Recommendation XVII (42) on the establishment of
national institutions to facilitate the implementation of the
Convention .................................................. 117
Annexes
I. A. States parties to the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (137), as
at 20 August 1993 ........................................... 119
B. States parties that have made the declaration under
article 14, paragraph 1, of the Convention (18) ............. 123
II. Agendas of the forty-second and forty-third sessions ............ 124
A. Forty-second session ........................................ 124
B. Forty-third session ......................................... 124
III. Prevention of racial discrimination, including early warning and
urgent procedures: working paper adopted by the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination ............................ 126
IV. Opinion of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination .................................................. 131
V. Amended rules of procedure ...................................... 138
VI. Letter to the Secretary-General ................................. 141
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
VII. Letter to the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights ....... 142
VIII. List of documents issued for the forty-second and forty-third
sessions of the Committee ...................................... 144
IX. Documents received by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination at its forty-second and forty-third sessions,
pursuant to decisions of the Trusteeship Council and the Special
Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of
the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial
Countries and Peoples, in conformity with article 15 of the
Convention ..................................................... 148
X. Country rapporteurs for reports considered by the Committee at
its forty-second and forty-third sessions ...................... 149
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
20 August 1993
Sir,
The period 1992-1993 has been besmirched by new evidence of horrific human rights abuses stimulated by racial and ethnic hatred. These new abuses are further examples of racial discrimination as this is defined in the first article of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Yet they are abuses of a different kind from those envisaged when the Convention was adopted in 1965. The Committee believes it important to call attention to some of the major changes it has observed, not least because some resolutions adopted by United Nations bodies continue to employ phrases that were appropriate in the resolutions of the 1960s and to use the concepts of that era even when they are not the most relevant for addressing the new circumstances.
The forms of racial discrimination which in the 1960s were regarded as most abhorrent were those of discrimination by whites against blacks. Racial discrimination was frequently described as caused by the dissemination of doctrines of racial superiority by the institutions of colonial rule and by the policies of racist regimes. The international community could counter these abuses by political means and in this way racial discrimination could be eliminated.
In 1993 we contemplate the success of policies initiated in the 1960s. The struggle against colonial rule and racist regimes has been successful even if the consequences of apartheid will continue to give trouble for a long time. New challenges started to emerge at the end of the 1980s with the disintegration of some of the larger political structures, particularly in eastern Europe, and the weakening of some structures in other regions. It is worth recalling that in the last census in the former Yugoslavia over 1 million persons did not register their membership in any national minority but counted themselves as simply Yugoslavs. Since that time, many of them have been forced by considerations of personal security to align themselves ethnically.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and other structures, some wider solidarities have been gravely weakened, exposing ethnic minorities to pressure from narrow nationalistic campaigns. Political movements have revived old claims to territory and incited ethnic hatred against persons of different origin. Rapid population growth, coinciding with a recession in world trade and the introduction of new technology, has changed the balance between the supply of labour and the demand for it. Increased competition for employment generates ethnic tensions in some regions, while elsewhere the weakening of public order has had comparable effects. As a result, racial or ethnic conflicts are appearing in areas previously characterized by tolerance. These forms of discrimination spring not from any belief in racial superiority but from a sense of difference. When a conflict becomes acute it is only with members of their own ethnic group that people feel secure.
Many of these confrontations have led to massive human rights violations. The Committee can look for signs of impending breakdown and has adopted a procedure for drawing any such signs to your attention. Responding to the new
His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Secretary-General of the United Nations
New York
challenges, the Committee is broadening its horizons in step with other organs of the United Nations. It is acting on the invitation of the General Assembly to give due regard to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. It is mindful of the proclamation of the International Year of the World's Indigenous People. It will help implement the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights and will contribute to the programme of the third decade to combat racism and racial discrimination. It is working more closely with the other treaty bodies to promote the more effective functioning of the human rights treaty system.
1993 has been an important year for the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination because of the steps you have taken to resolve the Committee's financial problems, enabling us to resume our established cycle of meetings. The Committee interprets your action as a sign of confidence in its work. It draws particular attention to the initiatives it has taken in respect of the States of the former Yugoslavia and to its statement that it will in no way encourage trends for separatism or secession. In addition, paragraphs 33 to 40 of the present report describe important steps taken to improve the Committee's working methods, its dialogue with States parties, its adoption of seven General Recommendations and the preliminary consideration it has given to others.
Accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.
(Signed) Luis Valencia Rodriguez
Chairman
Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
I. ORGANIZATIONAL AND RELATED MATTERS
A. States parties to the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
1. As at 20 August 1993, the closing date of the forty-third session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, there were 137 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which was adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 2106 A (XX) of 21 December 1965 and opened for signature and ratification in New York on 7 March 1966. The Convention entered into force on 4 January 1969 in accordance with the provisions of its article 19.
2. By the closing date of the forty-third session, 18 of the 137 States parties to the Convention had made the declaration envisaged in article 14, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Article 14 of the Convention entered into force on 3 December 1982, following the deposit with the Secretary-General of the tenth declaration recognizing the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals or groups of individuals who claim to be victims of a violation by the State party concerned of any of the rights set forth in the Convention. Lists of States parties to the Convention and of those which have made the declaration under article 14 are contained in annex I to the present report.
B. Sessions and agenda
3. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held two regular sessions in 1993. The forty-second (957th-984th meetings) and forty-third (985th-1012th meetings) sessions were held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 1 to 19 March and from 2 to 20 August 1993, respectively.
4. The agendas of the forty-second and forty-third sessions, as adopted by the Committee, are reproduced in annex II.
C. Membership and attendance
5. In accordance with the provisions of article 8 of the Convention, the States parties held their 14th meeting at United Nations Headquarters on 15 January 1992 1/ and elected nine members of the Committee from among the candidates nominated to replace those whose term of office was due to expire on 19 January 1992.
6. The list of members of the Committee for 1992-1993, including those elected or re-elected on 15 January 1992, is as follows:
Country of Term expires
Name of Member Nationality on 19 January
Mr. Mamoud ABOUL-NASR Egypt 1994
Mr. Hamzat AHMADU Nigeria 1994
Mr. Michael Parker BANTON United Kingdom of 1994
Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
Mr. Theodoor van BOVEN* Netherlands 1996
Mr. Ion DIACONU* Romania 1996
Mr. Eduardo FERRERO COSTA** Peru 1996
Mr. Ivan GARVALOV** Bulgaria 1996
Mr. Régis de GOUTTES France 1994
Mr. George O. LAMPTEY Ghana 1994
Mr. Carlos LECHUGA HEVIA Cuba 1994
Mr. Yuri A. RECHETOV** Russian Federation 1996
Mrs. Shanti SADIQ ALI** India 1996
Mr. Agha SHAHI Pakistan 1994
Mr. Michael E. SHERIFIS Cyprus 1994
Mr. SONG Shuhua** China 1996
Mr. Luis VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ* Ecuador 1996
Mr. Rüdiger WOLFRUM Germany 1994
Mr. Mario Jorge YUTZIS** Argentina 1996
* Elected on 15 January 1992.
** Re-elected on 15 January 1992.
7. All members of the Committee except Mr. Ahmadu attended the forty-second session. During the forty-third session, all members except Mr. Sherifis were in attendance.
D. Officers of the Committee
8. The officers elected at the forty-first session for a term of two years, in accordance with article 10, paragraph 2, of the Convention, continued to serve at the forty-second and forty-third sessions. The officers of the Committee are as follows:
Chairman: Mr. Luis VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ
Vice-Chairmen: Mr. Hamzat AHMADU
Mr. Ion DIACONU
Mrs. Shanti SADIQ ALI
Rapporteur: Mr. Michael Parker BANTON
E. Cooperation with the International Labour Organisation
and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
9. In accordance with Committee decision 2 (VI) of 21 August 1972 concerning cooperation with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2/ both organizations were invited to attend the sessions of the Committee.
10. At the forty-third session, the report of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, submitted to the International Labour Conference at its eightieth session, was made available to the members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in accordance with arrangements for cooperation between the two Committees. The Committee took note with appreciation of the report of the Committee of Experts, in particular of those sections which dealt with the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) and the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), as well as other information in the report relevant to its activities.
II. ACTION BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT ITS FORTY-SEVENTH
SESSION
11. The Committee considered this item at its 960th, 961st, 963rd, 974th, 975th and 979th meetings, held on 3, 4, 12 and 16 March 1993. For its consideration of this item, the Committee had before it the following documents:
(a) Note by the Secretary-General containing the report of the fourth meeting of persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies, held in Geneva from 12 to 16 October 1992 (A/47/628);
(b) Report of the Secretary-General on the financial situation of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (A/47/481);
(c) Report of the Secretary-General on the implications of providing full funding for the operation of all human rights treaty bodies (A/47/518);
(d) Reports of the Third Committee (A/47/658 and A/47/678/Add.1);
(e) Relevant summary records of the Third Committee (A/C.3/47/SR.3-10, 13, 16, 20, 25, 30, 40, 42-45, 48, 49 and 52);
(f) General Assembly resolutions 47/79 and 47/111;
(g) Working paper, adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, on prevention of racial discrimination, including early warning and urgent procedures (CERD/C/1993/Misc.1/Rev.2);
(h) Note on draft procedures regarding the prevention of racial discrimination, including early warning and urgent procedures (CERD/C/43/Misc.3);
(i) Note by the Secretariat transmitting the interim report on the study on enhancing the long-term effectiveness of the human rights treaty regime (A/CONF.157/PC/62/Add.11/Rev.1).
A. Annual report submitted by the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination under
article 9, paragraph 2, of the Convention
12. In his introduction of sub-item (a) of this agenda item, the Rapporteur of the Committee observed that a large number of delegations at the General Assembly had expressed concern over the critical financial situation of the Committee. As a result, there had been wide support for the proposed amendment to the Convention that all funding for the Committee should be provided from the regular budget of the United Nations. It was particularly important that States parties notify the Secretary-General of their acceptance of the proposed amendment without delay so that the Committee's meeting schedule would not be subject to further disruption. Many delegations had also expressed support for the work of the Committee and had welcomed the new dynamism with which the Committee was monitoring the implementation of the Convention.
B. Effective implementation of international instruments
on human rights, including reporting obligations
under international instruments on human rights
13. At the 960th meeting, the Chairman of the Committee introduced the report of the fourth meeting of persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies (A/47/628), which had been held at Geneva from 12 to 16 Oc