PART III – CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION 1. In the course of the State Reporting Cycle Generally civil society actors can submit information to CERD through its secretariat at any time. However, there are several different key phases in the State reporting cycle (ref. PART II 2.1). In order to be more effective, inputs should be provided in a more targeted and timely manner at each phase of the cycle. 1.1 Before the consideration of the State report concerned Before taking any steps civil society actors may need to clarify following question.
When is the State report due?
Has the State report already been sent?
When is the consideration of the State report concerned? As explained in PART II of this guide, an initial report is due one year after the Convention has entered into force for the State concerned. Thereafter, periodic reports are due every two years. However, the reality of most cases is that reports are not submitted according to this time schedule and consideration of each State report does not take place every two years. Once a State report has reached the Committee, it will be put on the list of “Reports received and pending consideration by the Committee.” This list is updated and published at every CERD session together with the list of State reports of which submission is due or overdue.74 Once consideration of a State report is scheduled for a coming session (or thereafter), detailed information is put on the CERD website under “Sessions”75 and relevant State reports can be found at the respective session page. Depending on whether and when the relevant State report will be or was submitted, different options are available for civil society actors on how to interact with the Committee. Alternatively, civil society actors can also directly contact the government concerned or the CERD Secretariat in order to obtain information on aforementioned questions. a) Participating in the preparation of the State report: If the due State report has not yet been submitted to the Committee, civil society actors can contact the government authority in charge (very often the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to find out when the government plans to submit it. If the report is still being prepared, NGOs could negotiate with the appropriate authority to become involved in the drafting process. In some cases governments may be willing and even keen to consult national NGOs in order to avoid being criticized for an incomplete State report. b) Providing information for the list of themes For the consideration of each State report at the coming session, CERD prepares and publishes a list of themes.76 In addition to (or as a part of) the alternative report, civil society actors can provide information to be specifically reflected in the list of themes and/or concrete proposals of themes. In any case input targeted at the list of themes should be made early enough, so that the Country Rapporteur can take account of it when drafting the list. Usually the list of themes is sent to the respective State government and published 4 to 6 weeks prior to the relevant session. It is generally recommended that, if wishing to provide information specifically for the list of 74 These lists are included in the document “Status of submission of reports by States parties under article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention” which will be prepared for every CERD session and can be found in the top of respective session website (e.g. for CERD th 77 session, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/cerds77.htm). 75 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/sessions.htm 76 This has been practiced since its 77th session, please also refer to the PART II 2.1 c) of this guide. 25 ICERD & CERD: A GUIDE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ACTORS