E/CN.4/2002/24
page 35
77.
Germany has recently established a new human rights institute. On 7 December 2000,
the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) resolved to establish an independent,
publicly-funded German Institute for Human Rights to be based in Berlin. The statute of the
Institute refers specifically to the “Paris principles” (the Principles relating to the status of
national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights), and its mandate covers
international and national human rights issues, including public and private sector issues. The
Institute will focus on (a) information and documentation; (b) research; (c) advisory services to
State authorities and NGOs; (d) human rights education; (e) promoting dialogue between NGOs
and State organs; and (f) cooperation with international organizations. The Institute is presently
composed of a founding committee of nine individuals, including four NGO representatives,
one representative of the academic community (who is also a member of the United Nations
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), two members of Parliament, one media
representative and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
“It will have a board of 16 members: 4 federal government representatives acting in an advisory
capacity and 12 members with voting rights, including: 1 representative from the German
Science Council, 3 NGO representatives, 2 government members from the Committee for
Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, 1 representative from the Office of the Federal
Government’s Commissioner for Foreigners Issues, and 5 representatives initially nominated by
the founding committee and later to be selected by the assembly of all members of association.
It is anticipated that the Institute will begin its work in early 2002.”
78.
While welcoming the progress achieved by Germany in action to combat racism, racial
discrimination and xenophobia, the Special Rapporteur, who is happy to have taken part in the
anti-racist programme organized by the city of Nürenberg in September 2001 as a follow-up
measure to the Durban Conference, sincerely hopes that the Government’s efforts will lead to the
enactment of the law to combat racial discrimination, as promised on the occasion of his visit to
Germany in 1995. Such a law would reflect, in the legal sphere, the extensive mobilization of
the German Government and people in action to combat racism and all forms of racial
discrimination and xenophobia.
B. Brazil
79.
Following his visit to Brazil in June 1995 the Special Rapporteur submitted a report to
the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-second session and presented his recommendations
regarding the eradication of racism and racial discrimination in Brazil (E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.1).
In subsequent reports to the Commission at its fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth sessions
(E/CN.4/1998/79 and E/CN.4/1999/15), the Special Rapporteur highlighted some of the
measures adopted by the Brazilian Government to implement his recommendations. Information
compiled under this section is aimed at informing the Commission of actions taken in the last
two years by the Brazilian Government to arrive at a better analysis of racial discrimination and
its elimination in various sectors.
80.
In the last two years, measures against discriminatory practices in employment and
occupation have mainly been adopted by the Ministry of Labour, through the Executive Working
Group for the Elimination of Discrimination in Employment and Occupation and with the