Prometheus 6   

UN anti-racism committee set to open final 2003 session

1 August – The United Nations panel monitoring progress on worldwide efforts to prevent racism and racial discrimination is set to open its second substantive session of 2003 next week in Geneva.

The 18-member Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) – the first body created by the UN to review actions by States to fulfil obligations under a specific human rights agreement – will meet from 4 to 22 August to review national anti-discrimination efforts and discuss ways to prevent racial discrimination.

The Governments of Albania, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Czech Republic, Finland, Iran, Latvia, Norway, Republic of Korea, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the United Kingdom, are expected to send representatives to present reports on national efforts to give effect to their treaty obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. These countries are among the 169 States parties to the Convention, which took effect in 1969.