Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The Convention specifies the measures that States parties agree to undertake to eliminate racial discrimination. It reinforces the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which in Article 1 states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and in Article 2 states “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1965. It entered into force in 1969 after 27 States had ratified or acceded to it. The Convention established the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). This Committee was the first body created by the UN to monitor and review actions by States to fulfil their obligations under a specific human rights agreement.

The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations by its resolution 2106(XX) of 21 December 1965.

Although the Universal Declaration on Human Rights notes that “All persons are born free and equal in dignity and in rights,” mounting international concern over racial discrimination, including some imposed by certain Governments such as apartheid and segregation, led the United Nations General Assembly, in 1963, to take the formal step of adopting the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which made four principal points:

• Any doctrine of racial differentiation or superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous and has no justification in theory or practice;
• All forms of racial discrimination and, still more so, government policies based on racial superiority or hatred violate fundamental human rights, tend to jeopardize friendly relations among peoples, co-operation among nations, and international peace and security;
• Racial discrimination harms not only those who are its objects but also those who practice it; and
• A world society free of racial segregation and discrimination, both factors that create hatred and division, is a fundamental aim of the United Nations.

Soon thereafter adoption of the Convention by the General Assembly provided the world community with a legal instrument to eliminate racial discrimination. The Convention entered into force 4 January 1969.

Article 2 of the Convention requires States Parties to “condemn racial discrimination and to pursue a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting understanding among all races, to engage in no act or practice of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons or institutions and to ensure that all public authorities and public institutions, national and local, act in conformity with this obligation.”

In accordance with Article 5 of the Convention, States Parties must guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights:

• The right to equal treatment before all organs administering justice;
• The right to security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm;
• Political rights, in particular the right to participate in elections – to vote and to stand for election-on the basis of universal and equal suffrage, to take part in the Government as well as in the conduct of public affairs at any level and to have equal access to public service;
• The right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State;
• The right to leave any country, including one’s own, and to return to one’s country;
• The right to nationality;
• The right to marriage and choice of spouse;
• The right to own property alone as well as in association with others;
• The right to inherit;
• The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
• The right to freedom of opinion and expression;
• The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;
• The rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work and to just and favourable remuneration;
• The right to form and join trade unions;
• The right to housing;
• The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services;
• The right to education and training;
• The right to equal participation in cultural activities; and
• The right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport, hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks.

Article 6 of the Convention requires States Parties to ensure that everyone within their jurisdiction has effective protection and remedies, through the competent national tribunals and other State institutions, against any acts of racial discrimination which violate human rights and fundamental freedoms contrary to this Convention.

In compliance with Article 4, States Parties must declare an offence punishable by law all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such acts against any race or group of persons of another colour or ethnic origin, and also the provision of any assistance to racist activities, including the financing thereof. The States Parties must also declare illegal and prohibit organizations that promote and incite racial discrimination and recognize participation in such organizations or activities as an offence punishable by law.

Canada signed the Convention in August 1966 and ratified it in October 1970. To date, Canada has made no reservations with respect to the Convention.

All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports (every two years) to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on how the rights identified in the Convention are being implemented. Canada last submitted a report to the Committee in May 2016.

The Convention established the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention by the State Parties. With respect to the selection of the experts, consideration is given to equitable geographical distribution and to the representation of the different forms of civilization as well as of the principal legal systems. Members are elected for a term of four years by the States Parties. Elections for nine of the eighteen members are held every two years, ensuring a balance between continuity and change in the composition of the Committee.

All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights codified in CERD are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Convention and then every two years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of concluding observations.

In addition to the reporting procedure, the Convention establishes three other mechanisms through which the Committee performs its monitoring functions:

• The early-warning and urgent procedures – aimed at preventing existing situations escalating into conflicts and responding to problems requiring immediate attention to prevent or limit the scale or number of serious violations of the Convention;
• The examination of inter-state complaints – when a State Party considers that another State Party is not giving effect to the provisions of this Convention; and
• The examination of individual complaints – this procedure makes it possible for an individual or a group of persons who claim to be victims of racial discrimination to lodge a complaint with the Committee against their State.

The Committee meets in Geneva and normally holds two sessions per year consisting of three weeks each. The Committee’s additional functions include publishing its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as general recommendations, publishing on thematic issues and organizing thematic discussions on topics such as non-citizens and racial discrimination and discrimination against Roma.

The Committee may receive reports and other information from the International Labour Organization, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as well as from various divisions within the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and from regional human rights organizations such as European Union Agency for Fundamental Human Rights.

With respect to Canada, the Committee’s most recent report (CERD/C/CAN/CO/21-23) was released in September 2017.

The Committee welcomed several legislative and policy initiatives by the Federal Government including the condemnation of Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination by the House of Commons in 2017, the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 with its 94 calls-to-action to address historical and ongoing discrimination against indigenous peoples, the resettlement of 46,000 Syrian refugees in 2016 and the commitment to resettle 25,000 more refugees in 2017 and the restoration of the Interim Federal Health Program to provide limited temporary health-care coverage to eligible groups, such as refugees, in 2016.

The Committee again criticized Canada for not providing recent reliable and consistent statistical data on the ethnic composition of the population including disaggregated economic and social indicators and requested this be corrected as specified in the Convention for the next periodic report.

The Committee expressed regret that Canada has no new national action plan against racism and was concerned that adequate anti-racism framework legislation is not yet in place in all provinces and territories. It was also concerned that the lack of “updated, systematic and coordinated tracking of racist hate crime data in all provinces and territories” results in the under-reporting of racist hate crimes. There was also concern about reports of racial profiling by police, security agencies and border agents impacting indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities.

Other areas of concern included:

• “the reported disproportionately high rate of incarceration of indigenous peoples and persons belonging to minority groups” including members of minorities who have mental or intellectual impairments”;
• the lack of action plans for implementing the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• violations of the land rights of indigenous peoples
• “victims of alleged actions by transnational corporations registered in Canada, whose activities negatively impact the rights of persons outside Canada, do not have adequate access to justice”;
• the continued high rates of violence against indigenous women and girls;
• despite multiple decisions by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, “less money is reportedly provided for child and family services for indigenous children than for children in other communities, and that this gap continues to grow”;
• “reports of discriminatory hiring practices and discrimination in the workplace faced by ethnic minorities, migrants and indigenous peoples, and of high rates of unemployment of educated ethnic minorities”; and
• the lack of a time limit on the detention of migrants, detention of migrant children and reports that temporary migrant workers are reportedly exploited and abused and sometimes denied basic health-care services as well as employment and pension benefits.

The Committee made a number of recommendations to address their concerns and recommended as well that Canada give effect to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action “when implementing the Convention in its domestic legal order” and “include in its next periodic report specific information on action plans and other measures taken to implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action at the national level.”

The Committee also invited Canada to submit its combined twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth periodic reports, as a single document by November 2021.

International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

United Nations Treaty Collection, international status – Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Government of Canada Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination covering the period June 2005 to May 2009.

CERD/C/CAN/CO/19-20. Concluding observations of the Committee on the nineteenth and twentieth periodic reports of Canada, adopted by the Committee at its eightieth session (13 February – 9 March 2012).

OHCHR Fact Sheet No. 12 (1991). The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination