Fifty Years of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Unique Combination ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Human Rights Treaties

Fifty Years of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is the very first edited collection on ICERD, the oldest of the UN human rights treaties. With a major Introduction and 13 chapters, it provides a unique combination of members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and academic and other experts, to discuss the importance of the treaty on its 50th anniversary.

Part III Organs Monitoring Treaty Compliance, 9 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thornberry Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Convention ◽  
The Core ◽  
Treaty Compliance ◽  
Un General Assembly

This chapter studies the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the oldest of the monitoring bodies of the UN ‘core’ treaties. Preceded by a Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1963, the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 21 December 1965 and entered into force on 4 January 1969. CERD oversees the implementation of the Convention. The chapter evaluates how CERD has worked to deliver its mandate, where it has innovated, and where it has been able to draw upon the wider human rights acquis to ground its positions, and where it may have struggled to deliver. It focuses on a number of issues around the core principles: discrimination and the grounds thereof; special measures; segregation; and the problem of addressing hate speech.

Migration and refugees: applying human rights to ‘everyone’?

2020 ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Michal Cenker ◽  
Daniel Holder
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Migrant Worker ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Convention ◽  
International Human ◽  
Prejudicial Attitudes ◽  
To Receive

Chapter 10 critically assesses the role of international human rights protections in promoting the rights of migrants and refugees in the context of globalisation, continuing global socio-economic inequalities and global conflict. While the whole concept of human rights rests on humanitarianism and not citizenship, international human rights mechanisms, such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), have often allowed states to apply restricted rights to non-citizens and while the UN Migrant Worker Convention exists, it remains the only core UN human rights instrument not to receive widespread ratification. This chapter discusses some of the issues which prevent the establishment of universal human rights protections for migrants and refugees, and how such protections have often been limited by a range of economic, political and security considerations along with prejudicial attitudes in potential host countries.

On the Intersectionality of Religious and Racial Discrimination: A Case Study on the Applicability of ICERD with Respect to China’s Uyghur Muslim Minority

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Holder
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
State Legislation ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Charter Member ◽  
Uyghur Population ◽  
Minority Nationality

Abstract As an officially recognised minority nationality in China, the Uyghurs’ unique religious identity is ostensibly protected under Chinese national law. In reality, such protections are limited in practice, with frequent claims by Uyghur activists, human rights NGOs and scholars that government policies result in the religious discrimination of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang. In light of the inefficacy of state legislation in protecting the Uyghurs’ religious freedoms, this article considers the protections offered within the Human Rights Treaty System of the United Nations (UN), of which China is both a charter member and an increasingly active participant. However, any attempt to consider Freedom of Religion or Belief protections within the UN’s core treaties remains frustrated as China has yet to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is the sole UN human rights instrument to contain provisions dedicated to religious and minority rights. To overcome this issue, this article argues that acts of religious discrimination against the Uyghur minority may also fall into contention with the protections contained within the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a treaty that has been ratified by China and is therefore legally obligated to comply with.

Global Compilation of National Legislation Against Racial Discrimination

1992 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-161
Author(s):  
Robert W. Schaaf
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Convention ◽  
National Legislation ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
The United Nations

The united nations recently issued a compilation of national legislation against racial discrimination. The publication, which has a 1991 imprint, bears the title: Second Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination: Global Compilation of National Legislation against Racial Discrimination. This volume covers 205 pages and carries the symbol: HR/PUB/90/8.The Charter of the United Nations, which was signed in June 1945 at San Francisco, entrusts the UN with promoting and ensuring respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms “for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.” The General Assembly, in one of its first resolutions, declared in 1946 “that it is in the higher interests of humanity to put an immediate end to religious and so-called racial persecution and discrimination.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly December 10, 1948, is the most fundamental human rights instrument adopted by the United Nations. Since that time there have been numerous conventions and declarations aimed specifically at eliminating racial discrimination. These include the Declaration and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted November 20, 1963 and December 21, 1965, respectively, and the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, adopted November 30, 1973.

‘Past’ Violations under International Human Rights Law: The Indigenous ‘Stolen Generation’ in Australia

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-272
Author(s):  
Maria O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Government

This article examines the debate relating to reparations for ‘past’ human rights violations, with particular focus on the case of the indigenous ‘Stolen Generation’ in Australia. The ‘Stolen Generation’ is a term used to describe the government-sanctioned practice of forced removals of part-Aboriginal children from their indigenous parents and placement into non-indigenous institutions and homes, which occurred in Australia from approximately 1910–1970. The ‘Stolen Generation’ violations present a unique and difficult legal question for international human rights law because they straddle the divide between ‘historic’ violations and contemporary acts, that is, they were committed by Australia after Australia signed key agreements such as the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the Declaration on the Rights of the Child and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, but prior to its ratification of international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This means that bringing a claim under international human rights law in relation to the violations raises a number of problems. The object of this article will be to explore whether Australia can be held responsible under international human rights law for the ‘Stolen Generation’ violations and possible avenues of redress. In this regard, the focus of the article will be on the possible claims victims could make to relevant treaty monitoring bodies and the types of obstacles they would face in doing so. These legal questions are also relevant to the wider debate that is taking place in relation to reparations, namely the extent to which a State can be held legally responsible to provide reparations for past violations.

The Meaning and Reach of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

1985 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Or Education ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
United Nations Charter

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (the Convention) is the most important of the general instruments (as distinguished from specialized instruments such as those pertaining to labor or education) that develop the fundamental norm of the United Nations Charter—by now accepted into the corpus of customary international law—requiring respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race. It has been eloquently described as “the international community’s only tool for combating racial discrimination which is at one and the same time universal in reach, comprehensive in scope, legally binding in character, and equipped with built-in measures of implementation.”

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and International Human Rights Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-102
Author(s):  
Francesco Seatzu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human

This article argues that it is not possible to interpret or apply the International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or CRPD) and its related Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities without drawing on the texts of other human rights treaties and the related jurisprudence of their judicial or quasi-judicial supervisory bodies. Conversely, it is not possible to supervise the implementation of other human rights treaties, where persons with disabilities are concerned, without drawing on the text of the CRPD and related interpretative conclusions of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee).

Race versus Religion in the Making of the International Convention Against Racial Discrimination, 1965

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ofra Friesel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Member States ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Final Version ◽  
Major Field ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The United Nations

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965 (CERD), was negotiated at the United Nations (UN) during the years 1962–1965. At that period, the UN was an organization so highly politicized and split that it was almost paralyzed, operatively speaking. Human rights codification was a major field whose advancement came to a standstill as a result of the lack of cooperation between UN member-states. Nevertheless, the UN managed to unite around the denunciation of racial discrimination, and unanimously adopted CERD on December 21, 1965. Furthermore, the period of time that elapsed between the presentation of the initiative and the vote on the final version of the treaty was only 3 years; a rather short period of time, UN experience considered.

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