CERD/C/62/D/26/2002 page 11 Notes 1 It is not clear whether the petitioner attended this meeting. 2 Section 9 of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Commonwealth) provides: Racial discrimination to be unlawful (1) “It is unlawful for a person to do any act involving a distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of any human right or fundamental freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.” 3 Section 18 C of the Racial Discrimination Act provides: Offensive behaviour because of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin (1) It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if: (a) The act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and (b) The act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the group. 4 Maroufidou v. Sweden Case No. 58/1979, Views adopted on 9 April 1981. 5 MacIsaac v. Canada Case No. 55/1979, Views adopted on 25 July 1980: “[The Committee’s] task is not to decide in the abstract whether or not a provision of national law is compatible with the Covenant, but only to consider whether there is or has been a violation of the Covenant in the particular case submitted to it.” 6 Article 2 of the Covenant sets out the right to an effective remedy for violations of the Covenant. 7 Paras. 4.7 to 4.9, infra. 8 Lerner, N.: The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Netherlands, Sijthoff Noordhoff Publishers, 1980, at 37. 9 Ibid. 10 Paras. 4.19 to 4.15, infra. 11 Para. 4.4, supra.