UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : OHCHR Press Conference: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for being here this afternoon for the press conference

hosted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The committee today will present its findings on Bolivia, Bulgaria, Germany,

Morocco, South Africa and Vietnam.

Joining us today on the podium, we have Miss Shepherd, chair of the committee

and three other committee members.

They are Mr Payan

Day,

Mr Yuan Si

Yun

and MM

Net.

Miss Madam Chair. You have to flop for your opening remark.

Thank you very much. And good afternoon, everyone.

Those joining online, um, may be from different time zones.

So I should also say good morning or good evening,

depending on your time zone.

It's my pleasure to be here again for another opportunity

to introduce the media to some of the work that we have done

in our 111 session.

I want to introduce Miss Arm Miss

Na

to my left

and Mr Yong

Sik

Yon

to my right

and Mr Paan

to my extreme left. These are the main, um,

rapporteurs for the countries that we did

this, um session.

But I also want to inform you

that there were six reviews Bolivia

Bulgaria, Germany, Morocco, South Africa and Vietnam.

And

for this press conference, we have all the country rapporteurs

or co

rapporteurs with us so that even if

it's not the members on the podium,

um who we

will ask,

you know, about the countries they represent.

there are those in the audience who can also take the floor.

So the committee,

in addition to the interactive dialogue with states parties,

worked on all rules of procedure

and we held a joint event with the Committee on Migrant Workers.

We're trying to elaborate a joint general comment

on xenophobia against migrants.

We also held a meeting with state parties to update them on recent developments of

of a procedural nature

and the substantive nature that occurred in Third and

to exchange on matters of interest for third,

including the acceptance of the individual complaint procedure

and the equal geographical representation

in the membership of the third.

So what I want to do now is to, um actually pass the floor to those at the podium

who will give an overview

of the countries for which they served as co rapporteurs and and rapporteurs.

So I'll begin with Miss Alms.

Nat who worked on Vietnam.

Uh,

OK, thank you. Uh, Madam

Chord. I would start with Vietnam.

All I need to do this,

uh, I was the CO.

I was the reporter for Vietnam.

The committee called for a moratorium on the

death penalty with a view to establish to abolish

it.

Citing concern about its dis appropriate appropriate

application in cases involving ethnic ethnic minorities,

many of whom were convicted under vague and broad criminal code provision.

The committee also raised its concern

that official data on the number of individuals sentenced to death or on death row

and executed is not published.

It recommended that Vietnam collect and publish death penalty data desegregated

by ethnicity, national origin,

following the United Nations safeguard protection of the

rights of those facing the death penalty.

The committee expressed

its deep concern that alleged harassment, intimidation, threat

and the use of force against ethno

religious community groups,

including the Christian

Mont

and the Buddhist Kam,

who refused to renounce their faith

or to join the state controlled

religious

ASCI.

The committee called for an immediate end of

such acts in conjunction with the investigation prosecution,

appropriate penalties for those convicted and

effective remedies for victims

While raising

its concern of a registration requirement for religious association.

The committee recommended that Vietnam review and amend this requirement

while guaranteeing the equal enjoyment of everyone,

particularly those from ethno religious minority group.

So to manifest their religion or belief.

Uh, the above uh, I

think the above uh, the report and everything will be will be on the session. Uh,

web page.

Thank you.

Thank you. Ms Alms

Nad Let me pass the floor to Mr Yuen who covered Germany and Morocco.

Ok, thank you My number chair.

Uh, as madam chair you just stated

I was a rapporteur

for Germany.

Now these are the findings

on Germany.

Despite the measures adopted by the State Party,

the committee was disturbed

by the increasing number of extremist organisations and groups,

including right wing extremist political parties

such as the alternative for Germany, the AFD,

whose programme is reportedly based

on the national ethnic concept.

The committee called on Germany to implement effective measures

to prevent and combat the creation and registration

of organisations or groups,

including political parties

that promote

and incite racial hatred

and to ensure

the electoral

democratic processes do not tolerate such groups

including political parties that promote ideas of superiority of one race.

The committee was also concerned about alleged racial profiling

and excessive use of force

and ill treatment by law enforcement officers

against ethnic minorities.

The committee asked Germany

to prohibit racial profiling by law

and establish an independent complaint mechanism

to investigate

or such abuses.

The committee welcomed Germany's acknowledgement

and apology

for the genocide

of the

O Herrero

and the NAMA peoples

and colonial wrongdoings in Tanzania.

The committee, however, voiced its concern

over the lack of full

reparation for colonial wrongdoings.

The committee recommended that Germany implement

comprehensive restitution and compensation

for the descendants of victims.

It also asked

the state party to adopt

an extensive policy for repatriating colonial objects

and cultural artefacts,

particularly

the restitution and repatriation

of ancestors. Human remains.

Let me now move to

Morocco.

While welcoming the official

recognition of the

amasi language

in the constitution,

the committee expressed concern that it was not sufficiently taught in schools

and had limited broadcasting space

in the audiovisual media,

making it difficult for amass

to use their language

in legal proceedings and official documents.

It recommended that Morocco intensify

its efforts to implement

the constitutional provisions

and the relevant organic law

and increase

the teaching of amasi

at

all levels of education.

He also asked Morocco

to improve

the presence of the amasi

language

and culture

in the audiovisual

media

and to revise the legal framework

so that the amasi

language is used

equally

with Arabic in courts.

The committee welcomed

the 2013 national immigration and

asylum strategy,

but expressed concern about the allegations of racial profiling

and excessive use of force

by

Moroccan,

Moroccan police

and other law enforcement officials

against migrants,

asylum seekers and refugees,

as well as arbitrary arrests, detentions

and forced

relocation

from the north to the south,

which

disproportionately affected

black migrants

from sub Saharan countries.

The committee called on Morocco to prohibit racial profiling in its legislation

and make

appropriate measures

to end arbitrary arrest

and the detentions,

forced relocations

and excessive use of force, particularly regarding

regarding

migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from sub

Saharan countries.

It also asked the state party to investigate all racial profiling,

ill treatment and abuse of authority

by law enforcement officials,

prosecute and sanction

those responsible

and then sure

that victims have access

to effective remedies.

Thank you, Madam Chair

thank you, Mr UN. I now pass the floor to Mr Pay

and

who will update us on the summaries of South Africa and Bolivia.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. With regard to the Lury National State of Bolivia,

the committee expressed concerns about persistent

structural issues within Bolivia's justice system,

such as the lack of independence, inadequate budget,

limited geographical coverage

and the absence of translation and interpretation in indigenous languages.

In justice services.

The committee recommended that Bolivia expedite its judiciary,

judiciary reforms

to ensure judicial autonomy and impartiality,

guarantee comprehensive coverage, including in remote areas,

and provide culturally sensitive adaptations

in the justice service to protect victims of racial discrimination.

It also called for

the allocation of sufficient resources to the PLU

national Public Defence Service in order to empower the justice system.

The committee furthermore,

restated its concern that the non discrimination principle had not been applied

adequately and that there weren't enough

steps taken to address structural racism,

stereotypes and prejudices

impeding the establishment of a truly pluralistic society.

It recommended

that Bolivia consult with indigenous original campesino

peoples and nations

with the Afro

Bolivian people

and with human rights groups working for migrants refugees,

asylum seekers and stateless persons

in order to implement guidelines to combat racism.

The committee also proposed the establishment

of inclusive spaces for intercultural dialogue through

the departmental committees to nurture mutual understanding

and acceptance within Bolivia's diverse society.

Turning to South Africa,

the committee raised concerns about the delay in adopting the prevention

and combating of hate crimes and hate speech bill since 2016

and the lack of comprehensive laws criminalising

racist hate speech and hate crimes.

The committee also expressed concerns about the prevalence

of hate crime and racist hate speech,

including in the media, on the Internet and in social media,

particularly against non citizens.

The committee called on South Africa to accelerate the legislative process

and to adopt measures to address the spread

of racist hate speech across all platforms.

The committee was particularly alarmed by the rise in harassment

and large scale and organised violent attacks against refugees,

asylum seekers, stateless persons and migrants

perpetuated by civilians by organised vigilante

groups and law enforcement officials.

It was also concerned about the lack of

information on investigations into these violations and abuses,

as well as on remedies and support for victims.

The committee urged South Africa

to conduct effective and impartial investigations

and to ensure that law enforcement authorities

respond objectively and proportionately to hate speech,

to harassment and violent attacks against non citizens

and to guarantee their protection, including the protection of their property.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. And the country rapporteur for Bulgaria isn't here at the moment.

But, um, I'm gonna ask Miss

Alms

nad

to give, uh, an overview of the in, uh, interactive dialogue with, uh Bulgaria.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes. Bulgaria was also one of the country which has been reviewed this session by C

Committee.

The committee voiced its concerns about the absence of

comprehensive integration programmes for migrant

refugee asylum seeker and state

person,

as well as the continuous difficulties in their access

to essential services such as education and healthcare.

The committee recommended that Bulgaria establish a functional local

integration mechanism for those people to have access to education, employment,

housing,

racial,

social assistance and healthcare services,

and adopt a national strategy and action plan

with time frame for monitoring the implementation.

The committee was concerned that a considerable number of Roma

was unable to obtain identity

identity

documents limiting their access to education, work, health care,

voting and free movement,

and hindering their marriages and birth registration.

It suggested that Bulgaria

speed up

the amendment of the Civil

Registry Act to address

Roma people obtaining identity cards.

It also asked Bulgaria to provide durable

solution to ensure that people without identity documents

can enjoy their fundamental rights under the convention.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Miss

Alms

na

I should also say that

the committee has

the early warning urgent action procedure.

And during this session we did adopt quite a few letters about 12 letters

and most of the issues covered by the early warning. Urgent action um

task force had to do with indigenous peoples and various violations,

but we have not yet sent the letters

to the state parties concerned.

And so we won't be able to say anything more about that in this session.

And finally I wanted to see

how useful we found the interaction with over 30 state parties that came to meet

with us because we were able to answer their questions and issues of concern to them

to encourage those who have been

behind in their reporting to us

and

also to update them on the work critical work

of third. So thank you very much.

Now we can open the floor for questions, and then you have the first question.

Please, uh,

identify your name and organisation. Thank you.

My name is Yuri Aper.

I'm the correspondent of the Russian agency R

Novy

here in Geneva at the UN.

Uh, all my questions are for Mister Yuan

about your report of Germany. I wrote it.

It was really interesting. But there is something that

I just don't understand because during the interactive dialogues that

you have with state parties and with parties about Germany,

the Russian delegation raised the problem of Russ

in, uh, Germany. Uh, they were speaking about the fact that, uh,

in Germany, Russians and Russian descendants that are living there can,

for example, uh, song some songs that are talking about the victory against Nazism,

especially during the Party of Ninth of May.

At

the same time,

they were talking about the fact that

Russian cars it means cars with Russian numbers

were taken in some cases by the authorities.

Only because they are under Russian numbers

and they will not give back. You are not at all talking about it in your report.

And you are also in your report talking about the racial

discrimination in sport.

And there is no mention of the fact that Russian athletes

who have only because they have Russian nationality and Russian passports

can't go to Germany, for example, for competitions,

even for international competitions only on the basis of their nationality.

Why are you not talking about it in your report? Thank you.

First of all, thank you for your interest.

Uh,

so the questions you've

you've asked on Germany,

I

don't think that, you know, in my,

uh,

in the concluding observations,

we covered

Russians

living in Germany

or, you know, Russian property.

It would be difficult for for me at this stage to answer beyond what was covered.

in the,

you know, in the in the report I made. In fact,

I didn't cover that

subject, nor was it raised.

No,

you speak about sports.

We did,

uh,

we did put questions to the to the state party,

and

I remember very well one of the specific questions was to the effect that, you know,

there was one famous

a football player,

German national,

but

with

with Marean

ethnicity

who abandoned

his career because he felt racially discriminated.

But again, this was not brought up officially. You know,

it wasn't one of the let's say hot topics.

There were much, much more

other, more important

topics which regarded, you know,

I hope I have been able to help you on these points.

So if you've got other questions, I'd love to

to answer them.

Thank you.

I have just

one.

You're saying that there are other topics that are more actual,

maybe or more bigger.

And that's why you're not talking about it in your report about Russians.

But

does that mean that because you're not talking about it?

This is something that for your committee doesn't exist.

I'll try to reply you by saying

that when we deal with

with a country report,

we usually go back

to the previous country report

and we

as a starter, we try to see,

are there problems

mentioned in the previous concluding observations

which haven't been corrected.

So we go along by basis

and you will appreciate it as well that

a country report when we deal with a country,

we've got six hours,

six hours and it is very difficult to cover each and every subject.

No,

it looks as if you are prompting me to say something about what we found.

More important.

Well, I can tell you we have, for example,

uh,

hate crimes,

police profiling.

Those are the matters which we felt were

one more.

it covers more, a

more wider

purport and scale.

OK, thank you.

If you'll allow me, um

I would just like to see

that

wherever

there are cases of racial discrimination, ethnic profiling,

whether in sport or other aspects of life in any country,

the committee is concerned.

So even if this particular issue was not raised by,

um NGO S or, um did not come up in the interactive dialogue,

it doesn't mean that the the third

is not concerned with any of these kinds of, um, actions against any

group

wherever they uh, occur.

so I wanted to just reassure you that it's not as if we're ignoring

the broad topic.

Um, it's just that the task force

were not asked to deal.

The task force was not asked to deal with this issue during the dialogue.

Thank you, Mr Yan.

Thank you, Madam. chair

and I've got some, um, written question

and the first one I have is about South Africa.

Um, there are numerous reports regarding the rising, um,

xenophobic hate speech on social media resulting in explosive violence,

large scale violence, including killing,

short looting and destruction of properties against thousands

of refugees and migrants fleeing sub Sahara countries.

What are the committee's findings on violence against non citizens?

And what are your recommendations?

Thank you very much indeed.

The whole topic of attacks hate speech, hate crimes against non citizens,

including migrants, asylum seekers, refugees

and people who are assumed to be non citizens.

That took up a large part of the dialogue that was raised by numerous,

um, civil society organisations

and we had a very intense dialogue on these issues.

The committee showed itself very concerned about these developments.

Um, and it made a number of recommendations recommendations that aim at,

um

adopting measures to protect people from these kinds of attacks,

adopting measures to ensure that law enforcement is actually

available and reacts to these to these matters

and

measures to to to address issues one to address cases that have arisen so

criminal prosecutions and other cases, support for victims

and possibilities of legal remedies for victims. So there were a number of cases,

and this is also related to the overall atmosphere to hate speech.

Um, which is a prevalent issue in South Africa.

Hate speech against noncitizen in particular.

And so we also made a number of

recommendations that the state party pay more attention to

this put more emphasis on on addressing the

issue and take measures to improve the situation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Paani.

And the second question I have is about Vietnam.

Uh,

why are ethnic minorities more vulnerable to being

sentenced and executed under the death penalty?

Thank you for the question.

I mean, we have a

long discussion with the Civil Societies religious group,

and we brought to the attention of the state party that,

uh,

the discrimination

in particular in terms of death penalty

that there should be some rethinking about it and, uh

uh, and maybe try to adopt.

I mean, at first, there had to be investigation about those who are on death penalty

and why. What are the real reason for that?

And look into this issue seriously.

I mean, we have recommended to the state party that we discuss with them

all of the issue about the death penalty. And we hope that

our recommendation will have some impact on the way the

society or the official in the country

will conduct the issue of death penalties.

Thank you.

Um, the next question is for Germany.

Um, can the committee, um,

elaborate about its recommendation regarding a comprehensive approach, um,

to reparation for colonial wrongdoings?

Um, example in Namibia and Tanzania?

Yes,

Thank you.

What? Um,

in fact, uh,

it's one of the

topics

which there has been a lot of progress.

And, uh,

in fact, I think we we we we must commend Germany

for

the willingness to,

uh, discuss and

ways of ways and means of

settling

the issue of,

discrimination.

And in fact,

that's a result of the colonial

colonial past.

Now, very few people even know that

Germany

is

classified number three

when it comes to, um

colonies,

you know,

with the strongest

links with, uh,

with

with with colonies, number three is Germany

now. Anyway, I

think Germany

especially known for

the atrocities

that were committed

in Namibia

and in Tanzania

No,

of course, we

we are happy to note

that the,

uh,

interstate, you know, uh,

are taking place between Germany and those two countries.

And significant progress has been made,

but certainly not enough.

So there is still,

some,

let's say, some lagging behind which need to be to be covered.

And that is why we have recommended that

Germany looks after the

aspect of reparation.

Now, um,

in the case of I think in, uh, yeah, we had the

to states

to

communities which I mentioned in my address

few minutes ago

the hi

and then and the number of

people

who who who suffered

a lot of

violence and

rou

we can even say examination, you know,

And, uh so government

We were asking the the, uh,

German government

to negotiate

with the representatives of those people

the descendants of those people

who still

living in their country

and not sort of keep them,

uh,

out of discussions

so approximately it's small, less around.

Yes,

thank you.

Whenever the issue of reparation comes up in global discussions,

one of the recurring complaints of the affected communities

is that there is insufficient negotiation

with those who have been still who have been affected by colonial wrongs

and who continue to suffer in the post colonial period

from the legacies of those wrongs. And so

the extent of compensation must match the extent of atrocity.

And also the the the the offending country

should not decide what is the reparation package without consultation

and the time frame should not be unreal.

So

we, I think, would like to see more negotiation.

Um, there are many communities I remember during the suffrage movement,

and they used to say

nothing about us without us.

And I think that this can be applied to all those who are

involved in compensation talks and

in the whole process of reparatory justice.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, I have one more question.

Uh, that can be for, um, any expert on the podium.

could the committee explain the intersection of

religion and racial discrimination under the convention?

Um, is is it

freedom of religion? Religion is one of your, um,

is also fall into your mandate.

Thank you for the question. Um, well, actually, the

convention is convention against racial discrimination.

And if you look at article one, paragraph one of the convention,

you will find that religion as such is not a ground

for discrimination that would make the convention applicable,

and that would fall within the mandate of the convention.

However, there are two exceptions, and those are two big exceptions.

The one is that we the question already raised

the term of intersectionality that we often see that,

um, religious minorities or religious groups and ethnic, um,

ethnic characterizations or ethnic self identification of groups, um,

fall together.

And in that sense, whenever we have ethno

religious minorities or ethno religious groups, they fall within the mandate

of the convention and therefore the committee.

And the second point is that Article five of the convention,

um

allows for encompasses

the right to freedom of religion for the people protected under the convention,

so that whenever there are ethnic groups, ethnic minorities

which are discriminated against not because they are religious group, but

in with regards to the freedom of their religious exercise.

Then this also falls within the mandate of the of the committee.

And we've addressed that in a number of cases.

In this session, for example, with regard to Vietnam, thank you.

I don't see I don't have any. I don't see any question online now.

So, Madam Chair, would you like to

give your concluding remark?

Thank you very much.

Let me again. Thank those from the media

in the room and those online, um, who pose questions.

I want to thank colleagues from the committee who are, um, in the room on the audience

and those on the podium.

I I want to

emphasise

that third continues

to work towards the elimination of racial discrimination sticking to its mandate.

and I thank all colleagues who have taken countries who participated in task forces

and who conducted the the dialogue.

And,

um, I want to say also that we didn't mention that in this session,

and Miss Staver

a is in the in the in the room,

and she has been a champion.

Um, in terms of her work on

reviewing

the rules of procedure.

And I think our constituency would like to know

that we have been working on the rules of procedure

because sometimes you have to revisit your methods

of work and your rules of procedure.

So we have been doing that

we have been we We are still elaborating a general recommendation again,

Miss Taverna

is working on this

on general recommendation. 37 on the right to health

because COVID-19 taught us

about the inequalities that affected marginal marginalised communities.

And finally,

the the whole issue of the treaty body strengthening,

um, process,

um, came up quite a bit in our deliberations.

Um, everybody knows about 68268.

It's, like, you know, something that comes up all the time.

And so third

is also participating

in in the process in terms of the predictable review cycle,

the digital uplift and, of course, the harmonisation of methods of work.

So I wanted to mention

that third is one of those treaty bodies involved in this process, which is a larger,

um, project of the United Nations.

So thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, if there is no more, um, remark from any of the experts here on the podium,

anything.

So our press conference comes to an end now. Thank you.

OHCHR Press Conference: UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) - 08 December 2023