Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan gave a statement to open the sixty-first session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 5 August. In his statement, he said that the Committee would be taking a “necessary and important” step by discussing the issue of descent during its current session.
Descent is one of the grounds of discrimination mentioned in Article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. However, Mr. Ramcharan said that the notion of descent does not receive the amount of attention it should and its interpretation is not always clear. Since 1996, the Committee has adopted a broad interpretation of the term, stating that it refers not only to race but also to situations such as caste.
More than 250 million people remain affected by descent-based discrimination in various regions of the world, according to a report by an Expert Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Non-governmental organizations representing the victims of descent-based discrimination will address the Committee on this issue.
During the three-week session, the 18-member Committee will also hear reports from several countries on anti-discrimination efforts undertaken by their Governments, including Canada, Senegal, Armenia, Uganda, Yemen, New Zealand and Botswana.
