ICERD: the next fifty years

The chapter highlights the continued and future relevance of ICERD. While racism as an official state policy no longer exists, racial discrimination remains a reality, taking new forms. The constructive dialogue between States parties and CERD will enable the continued application of the treaty to new and emerging situations and to new forms of racial discrimination.

General Recommendation 35 on combating racist hate speech

The chapter outlines how ICERD has traditionally had an outlier status among international human rights treaties in respect of racist hate speech due to its heavy reliance on the criminalisation of certain types of expression in order to combat racism. The recent General Recommendation 35 recognises that ICERD as a living instrument must be better synchronised and informed by contemporary understandings of racist hate speech, its causes, manifestations and impact.

How effective has CERD been in protecting minorities?

The chapter articulates the relationship between the minority rights discourse and ICERD, and looks forward to a greater understanding of its relevance to minority rights. Overall the chapter paints ICERD as a key custodian of minority rights within the UN system, a role which has been under-represented in the literature.

CERD, the State, mining corporations and indigenous peoples’ rights: the experience of the Subanon in the Philippines

The chapter offers a compelling case study on the operationalization of CERD’s early warning and urgent action procedure in the case of the Subanon community located at the foot of Mt Canatuan in the Phillippines, and provides a close-up of the relevance of the treaty on the ground.

Knowing and doing with numbers: disaggregated data in the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Through the issue of disaggregated data collection, the chapter tracks the changes in CERD’s approach from its early days to contemporary questions, capturing shifts in the Committee’s priorities and engagement with States parties.

Extending the rule of law

The chapter opens the collection with a tour d’horizon of the origins, lifetime and experience of implementing the treaty from the perspective of a CERD member. It argues that the treaty ought to be considered a significant step forward in the extension of the rule of law.

Conclusion

The United Nations does not seek a world cut after a single pattern, nor does it consider this desirable. The United Nations seeks only unity, not uniformity, out of the world’s diversity. – Ralph Bunche, Nobel Lecture (1950)1 The collection has charted the forces behind the drafting and entry into force of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in 1965, and in the fifty years of its implementation under the aegis of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), its evolution from a narrow focus on colonialism and apartheid to an instrument governing a wide range of groups and themes. The number of ratifications means that the obligations found in the treaty are near-universal in reach. Its provisions at times betray their age but have nevertheless proven very capable of application to contemporary aspects of racial discrimination. The title of this collection has ensured a focus on the treaty as a ‘living instrument’, but this does not always entail dynamic or evolutive interpertation. Complex questions of treaty interpretation coexist with straightforward applications of clear provisions to contemporary situations that confront the Committee. The text of ICERD has not changed since 1965; there are no protocols to the instrument. Its text has proven capable of a remarkable array of applications, and has framed the development of an in-depth corpus of international standards on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination....

ICERD in the post-conflict landscape: towards a transitional justice role

The chapter highlights the potential of ICERD to contribute to the process of transitional justice in post-conflict societies. In particular it identifies truth commissions as having largely ignored the potential for ICERD as a transitional tool, and calls on CERD, States Parties and other actors to better understand and carve out a role for ICERD in the truth and reconciliation process.

Genocide and the ICERD

The chapter explores the common thread linking ICERD and genoide, including CERD’s 2005 Declaration on the Prevention of Genocide, and list of indicators relevant to the prevention of genocide, termed ‘indicators of patterns of systematic and massive racial discrimination’.

General Recommendation 34: a contribution to the visibility and inclusion of Afro-descendants in Latin America

The chapter analyses the role of CERD in highlighting and addressing the discrimination suffered by Afro-descendants in Latin America. CERD General Recommendation 34 (on people of African descent is detailed, including its potential as a stepping-stone towards an International Declaration on the Rights of Afro-descendants.