Source: UN Information Centre in Pretoria (UNIC) |

South Africa to face review by UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The review will take place on 9 August from 15:00 – 18:00 and on 10 August from 10:00 – 13:00 at Palais Wilson in Geneva

PRETORIA, South Africa, August 4, 2016/APO/ --

South Africa’s record on tackling racial discrimination will face scrutiny by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on 9 and 10 August. South Africa is one of the 177 States that have ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and so is reviewed regularly by the Committee of 18 international independent experts.   


Among the possible issues for discussion between CERD members and a delegation from the South African Government are: 
·        Progress in adoption of national action plan to combat racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia; 
·        Action taken to address hate crimes, hate speech and racial propaganda; 
·        Black and ethnic minority women’s and girls’ access to land rights, education, health care and equal employment opportunities; 
·        Indigenous peoples’ access to basic services, housing, health care and education; 
·        Number of migrants and non-citizens, including refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons; 
·        Reported cases of discrimination and violence against non-citizens; 
·        Measures to address root causes of xenophobia, violence.   

The review will take place on 9 August from 15:00 – 18:00 and on 10 August from 10:00 – 13:00 at Palais Wilson in Geneva, and will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/ 

The Committee will also hear from other UN entities and NGOs. More information here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1073&Lang=en 

The Committee will hold a news conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva at 13:30 on 26 August to discuss its findings on South Africa and the other countries being reviewed – Greece, the UK, Paraguay, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The findings, officially termed concluding observations, will be published here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1073&Lang=en 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Information Centre in Pretoria (UNIC).