THE CONTRIBUTION OF NGOS TO CERD’S WORK ● Main part of the report: As indicated above and as Committee members recommend, it is preferable to treat the various issues in accordance with the sequence of the Articles of ICERD. Or NGO reports in their introduction and throughout the text should at least clearly express that the issues raised do fall within the scope of a specific Article or Articles of ICERD. This is because the Committee is a monitoring body, and is thus concerned with the state party s implementation of the provisions set forth in ICERD. With this approach, the contentions in the state report can either be rectified or commented upon under the individual paragraphs. This approach, however, does not rule out a general introductory statement relating to issues and developments of major importance. Under each item, there should be a short description of the issue, and gaps or shortcomings in the state report should be pointed out. The supplementary report may also include questions that the Committee may raise. Do not forget that the decision to take NGO advice into account is entirely up to the Committee members, so an imperative tone should be avoided. Sources: A wide range of types of information can be considered in order to illustrate the NGO s own analysis of acts or practices of racial discrimination, such as: ● statistics (information on how, when, where and by whom they have been collected); ● results of academic research (ditto); ● official documents issued by government authorities; ● specific cases reported by reliable newspapers; and, ● court cases. Specific cases are also generally appreciated by Committee members as good illustrations of the issues raised in supplementary reports. For example, the supplementary report on Nepal submitted by the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) to CERD in August 1998 presents a case in order to highlight the impunity with which the Nepali police have been operating in a region of Nepal. It is always useful to keep in mind that all the information provided needs to be cross-referenced to its source (with dates), so that its reliability may be subject to independent scrutiny. Allegations should never be made without firm evidence in support. Reliable sources said ... may be good enough in journalism but not in our case; any source referred to in a report should be precise, truthful and authentic. 14 Illustration — European Roma Rights Center The supplementary report submitted by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) with regard to Italy’s implementation of ICERD in March 1999, refers to many official documents of both the Government of Italy and international or regional institutions which substantiate the ERRC’s contentions. The following is an extract from their report with reference to Article 2 of the Convention: ‘Discussion Article 2 To date, the Government has not complied with its obligations to “prohibit and bring to an end, by all appropriate means, including legislation [...] racial discrimination [...]” (Article 2(1)(d). On the one hand, legislation prohibiting racial discrimination per se appears to provide for inadequate remedies and has not been widely publicized. On the other, the Government has not acted to ensure that what legislation does exist is effectively implemented in practice. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has recently concluded that, “In Italy there is no general legislation to counter racial or ethnic discrimination.” Apart from 1993 amendments to the criminal code (which address the dissemination of racist speech and racially-motivated violence), Italian law affords “little ammunition against racial discrimination or other outward forms of intolerance”. Immigration legislation adopted in July 1998 appears to provide limited protection against racial discrimination. However, the scope of the protection afforded therein is unclear and the remedies provided are inadequate. Although the Government ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in November 1997, Italy still does not have a minorities’ law. Moreover, it now appears that, if and when a law securing the rights of minorities is ultimately passed, it will not apply to Roma. Thus, draft legislation on the linguistic and cultural rights of minorities, currently pending in the Senate, was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in June 1998 only after Roma had been explicitly excluded from the proposed law’s application. Similarly, after the Government and others had praised draft immigration legislation for granting legal non-citizens the right to vote in local elections, this provision was deleted from the law before it was finally adopted. The ambiguity and resulting inadequacy of Italy’s legislative norms on racial discrimination are compounded by the failure to ensure their effective implementation. Thus, notwithstanding the general constitutional provision on equality (Article 3), “there is no case-law on the subject of racism”. Furthermore, there appears to be no case-law concerning those few legislative prohibitions against non-violent acts of discrimination which do exist. […] ICERD: A GUIDE FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS cont....