International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination facts for kids

Membership of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination:      Recognise competence under Article 14      Do not recognise competence under Article 14      Signed but not ratified      Neither signed nor ratified

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races. The Convention also requires its parties to criminalize hate speech and criminalize membership in racist organizations.

The Convention also includes an individual complaints mechanism, effectively making it enforceable against its parties. This has led to the development of a limited jurisprudence on the interpretation and implementation of the Convention.

The convention was adopted and opened for signature by the United Nations General Assembly on 21 December 1965, and entered into force on 4 January 1969. As of July 2020, it has 88 signatories and 182 parties.

The Convention is monitored by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Prevention of discrimination

Article 2 of the Convention condemns racial discrimination and obliges parties to "undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms". It also obliges parties to promote understanding among all races. To achieve this, the Convention requires that signatories:

• Not practice racial discrimination in public institutions
• Not "sponsor, defend, or support" racial discrimination
• Review existing policies, and amend or revoke those that cause or perpetuate racial discrimination
• Prohibit "by all appropriate means, including legislation," racial discrimination by individuals and organisations within their jurisdictions
• Encourage groups, movements, and other means that eliminate barriers between races, and discourage racial division

Parties are obliged "when the circumstances so warrant" to use positive discrimination policies for specific racial groups to guarantee "the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms". However, these measures must be finite, and "shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved".

Article 5 expands upon the general obligation of Article 2 and creates a specific obligation to guarantee the right of everyone to equality before the law regardless of "race, colour, or national or ethnic origin". It further lists specific rights this equality must apply to: equal treatment by courts and tribunals, security of the person and freedom from violence, the civil and political rights affirmed in the ICCPR, the economic, social and cultural rights affirmed in the ICESCR, and the right of access to any place or service used by the general public, "such as transport hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks." This list is not exhaustive, and the obligation extends to all human rights.

Article 6 obliges parties to provide "effective protection and remedies" through the courts or other institutions for any act of racial discrimination. This includes a right to a legal remedy and damages for injury suffered due to discrimination.

Condemnation of apartheid

Article 3 condemns apartheid and racial segregation and obliges parties to "prevent, prohibit and eradicate" these practices in territories under their jurisdiction. This article has since been strengthened by the recognition of apartheid as a crime against humanity in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination regards this article as also entailing an obligation to eradicate the consequences of past policies of segregation, and to prevent racial segregation arising from the actions of private individuals.

Prohibition of incitement

Article 4 of the Convention condemns propaganda and organizations that attempt to justify discrimination or are based on the idea of racial supremacism. It obliges parties, "with due regard to the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", to adopt "immediate and positive measures" to eradicate these forms of incitement and discrimination. Specifically, it obliges parties to criminalize hate speech, hate crimes and the financing of racist activities, and to prohibit and criminalize membership in organizations that "promote and incite" racial discrimination. A number of parties have reservations on this article, and interpret it as not permitting or requiring measures that infringe on the freedoms of speech, association or assembly.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination regards this article as a mandatory obligation of parties to the Convention, and has repeatedly criticized parties for failing to abide by it. It regards the obligation as consistent with the freedoms of opinion and expression affirmed in the UNDHR and ICCPR and notes that the latter specifically outlaws inciting racial discrimination, hatred and violence. It views the provisions as necessary to prevent organised racial violence and the "political exploitation of ethnic difference."

Promotion of tolerance

Article 7 obliges parties to adopt "immediate and effective measures", particularly in education, to combat racial prejudice and encourage understanding and tolerance between different racial, ethnic and national groups.

Impact

The impact of an international treaty can be measured in two ways: by its acceptance, and by its implementation. On the first measure, the Convention has gained near-universal acceptance by the international community, with fewer than twenty (mostly small) states yet to become parties. Most major states have also accepted the Convention's individual complaints mechanism, signaling a strong desire to be bound by the Convention's provisions.

The Convention has faced persistent problems with reporting since its inception, with parties frequently failing to report fully, or even at all. As of 2008, twenty parties had failed to report for more than ten years, and thirty parties had failed to report for more than five. One party, Sierra Leone, had failed to report since 1976, while two more – Liberia and Saint Lucia had never met their reporting requirements under the Convention. The Committee has responded to this persistent failure to report by reviewing the late parties anyway – a strategy that has produced some success in gaining compliance with reporting requirements. This lack of reporting is seen by some as a significant failure of the Convention. However the reporting system has also been praised as providing "a permanent stimulus inducing individual States to enact anti-racist legislation or amend the existing one when necessary."

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is a body of human rights experts tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention. It consists of 18 independent human rights experts, elected for four-year terms, with half the members elected every two years. Members are elected by secret ballot of the parties, with each party allowed to nominate one of its nationals to the Committee.

All parties are required to submit regular reports to the Committee outlining the legislative, judicial, policy and other measures they have taken to give effect to the Convention. The first report is due within a year of the Convention entering into effect for that state; thereafter reports are due every two years or whenever the Committee requests. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the state party in the form of "concluding observations".

On 10 August 2018, United Nations human rights experts expressed alarm over many credible reports that China had detained a million or more ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Gay McDougall, a member of the Committee, said that "In the name of combating religious extremism, China had turned Xinjiang into something resembling a massive internment camp, shrouded in secrecy, a sort of no-rights zone."

On 13 August 2019, the Committee considered the first report submitted by the Palestinian Authority. A number of experts questioned the delegation regarding antisemitism, particularly in textbooks. Silvio José Albuquerque e Silva (Brazil) also raised evidence of discrimination against Roma and other minorities, the status of women, and oppression of the LGBT community. The Committee's report of 30 August 2019 reflected these concerns. On 23 April 2018 Palestine filed an inter-state complaint against Israel for breaches of its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

On 4 and 5 December 2019, the Committee considered the report submitted by Israel and in its conclusions of 12 December noted that it is worried about "existing discriminatory legislation, the segregation of Israeli society into Jewish and non-Jewish sectors" and other complaints." The Committee also decided that it has jurisdiction regarding the inter-State communication submitted by the State of Palestine on 23 April 2018 against the State of Israel. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by alleging bias by the committee members, noting that their "blatant anti-Israel posture, and reckless disregard for the welfare of Israelis, is a shocking neglect of the duties of the CERD Committee to act with impartiality and objectivity."

The Committee typically meets every March and August in Geneva. The current (as of July 2023^[update]) membership of the Committee is:

Name of Member	Nationality	Term expires
Ms. Sheikha Abdulla Ali Al-Misnad	Qatar	2024
Mr. Noureddin Amir	Algeria	2026
Mr. Michal Balcerzak (Vice-chairperson)	Poland	2026
Ms. Chinsung Chung (Vice-chairperson)	South Korea	2026
Mr. Bakari Sidiki Diaby	Côte d’Ivoire	2026
Ms. Régine Esseneme	Cameroon	2026
Mr. Ibrahima Guisse (Rapporteur)	Senegal	2024
Mr. Gün Kut	Turkey	2026
Ms. Yanduan Li	China	2024
Ms. Gay McDougall	United States of America	2026
Mr. Vadili Rayess	Mauritania	2024
Mr. Mehrdad Payandeh	Germany	2024
Ms. Verene Albertha Shepherd (Chairperson)	Jamaica	2024
Ms. Stamatia Stavrinaki (Vice-chairperson)	Greece	2024
Ms. Mazalo Tebie	Togo	2026
Ms. Faith Dikeledi Pansy Tlakula	South Africa	2024
Mr. Eduardo Ernesto Vega Luna	Peru	2024
Mr. Yeung Kam John Yeung Sik Yuen	Mauritius	2026

Opposition

In Malaysia

On 8 December 2018, two of Malaysia's major right wing political parties – the Islamist Malaysian Islamic Party and the ethnonationalist United Malays National Organisation – organized a "Anti-ICERD Peaceful Rally" with the support of several non-government organizations on fears of the convention allegedly compromising bumiputera privileges and special positions of the Malay people and Islam in the country, a major tenet held by both these parties. This rally was held in the capital of the country, Kuala Lumpur.

See also

• Anti-ICERD Rally in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
• Anti-racism
• Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
• Discrimination based on nationality
• Environmental racism
• Environmental racism in Europe
• Racial Equality Proposal, 1919
• World Conference against Racism