Part 1— ICERD and its monitoring body 1. History F or many years, the struggle against racial discrimination was closely linked with anti-colonialism. In the struggle for political independence, peoples under colonial domination accused the colonial powers of practising racial discrimination. The term racial discrimination was mainly associated with white people s discrimination against black people. This explains why the word race is still used in connection with skin colour, although we may consider its use obsolete or scientifically incorrect. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with countries in the South becoming members of the UN, the UN developed significant political and legal norms through several instruments such as the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960) and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1963). However, we have to recall that the rationale of the majority behind the adoption of these declarations was to put an end to discriminatory practices in other states and the idea that discrimination could also exist on the domestic scene was ignored. With the introduction of apartheid as an institutionalized policy and practice in Southern Africa, its almost unanimous condemnation by states led to an important leap forward in the fight against discrimination. This was the belief that the racist practices of one state can be a legitimate concern of others, thus curtailing the principle of national sovereignty . It is in this historical context that the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was adopted in 1965 by the General Assembly (GA) with its clear reference to apartheid in Article 3. In the case of an official racist regime such as apartheid, it was easy to reach consensus among states to condemn it. This enabled the latter to provide the UN with an important instrument to combat discrimination within states. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, states were no longer eager to rely on ICERD as they did not want to expose themselves to criticism from other states, NGOs or even their own citizens. Today, however, we perceive a renaissance of ICERD, and it may gain much more importance in the future: discrimination is strongly intertwined with issues such as economic marginalization, financial crises, immigration, refugee flows, trafficking of people, etc. Human rights violations in a country may easily become a serious concern for others; a massive flow of refugees, for example, can be the consequence of a government s discriminatory policy against a particular ethnic group or of ethnic cleansing . In such cases, other states might have a legitimate interest in drawing the attention of the international community to that state s poor human rights record. Here, CERD may act as an important warning system. The involvement of a good number of NGOs in the fight against discrimination may also contribute to a more effective implementation of ICERD. As will be discussed later, NGOs can persuade governments to comply more closely with ICERD s standards and/or publicize the work of CERD. 2. What is ICERD? I CERD is considered to be the only international legal instrument specifically addressing comprehensive issues of racial discrimination. It established an expert body of 18 independent experts responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention s provisions. One of the important aspects of ICERD is its coverage of rights not only of individuals but also of collectives, as indicated, for example, in Article 2 (a): each State Party undertakes to engage in no act or practice of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons or institutions [...] (italics added). This is particularly significant for minority groups and indigenous peoples whose collective rights are often subject to discrimination.1 Upon ratification of or accession to ICERD, each state party assumes an obligation to submit reports periodically to CERD, or upon CERD s request, on the measures it has taken to implement the Convention. (Details on the state reporting procedures are provided later in this manual.) In order to assist states parties in the implementation of their obligations under the Convention, CERD produces a series of suggestions and general recommendations (known as General Recommendations ), provided for in ICERD: A GUIDE FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 1