CERD/C/ZAF/CO/3 page 2 establishment of a completely non-racist State represents a challenge for the South African society and requires human and financial resources on a scale adequate to meet the many challenges. C. Positive aspects 6. The Committee expresses its satisfaction over the peaceful transition from apartheid, as well as the adoption of the Constitution of 1996 with its Bill of Rights, enshrining, inter alia, the values of “human dignity, equality and non-racism”. 7. The Committee acknowledges with appreciation the numerous legislative measures designed to build a democratic and multicultural society and to combat segregation and racial discrimination, such as the Film and Publication Act of 1996, the South African Schools Act of 1996, the Culture Promotion Amendment Act of 1998, the National Empowerment Fund Act of 1998, the Refugees Act of 1998, the Employment Equity Act of 1999 and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000. 8. The Committee welcomes the establishment of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) with competence, inter alia, to promote respect for human rights, monitor and investigate their observance and seek effective redress for human rights violations, notes its very active role in eliminating the residual effects of racial discrimination and appreciates its contribution during the dialogue with the State party. 9. The Committee acknowledges the establishment of “Equality Courts”, with the purpose of enforcing the Promotion of Equality Act, whose primary objective is the elimination of racism and discrimination. 10. The Committee also welcomes the adoption of special measures, in the context of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, which are in accordance with paragraph 4 of article 1 and paragraph 2 of article 2 of the Convention, with the purpose of securing adequate advancement of racial or ethnic groups that have experienced discrimination. It draws the attention of the State party, however, to the fact that such “affirmative action” may not lead to the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for those groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved. D. Concerns and recommendations 11. While acknowledging the historic reasons submitted by the State party not to gather disaggregated data on the ethnic groups that constitute its population, the Committee notes that, in the absence of disaggregated information on the composition of the population, an adequate vision of the diversity of the South African society cannot be obtained, nor an accurate perception of the effective enjoyment of the rights provided in the Convention by different ethnic groups (art. 1). The Committee recommends that the State party endeavour to include, in its next periodic report, a qualitative description of the ethnic composition of its population, in particular indigenous peoples and non-citizens, and, in this connection, draws the attention of the State party to paragraph 8 of its general guidelines (2000).