Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - General Comments

General recommendation No. 17 - On the establishment of national institutions to facilitate the implementation of the Convention [1993] UNCERDGC 7; INT/CERD/GEC/7489 (19 March 1993)

Forty-second session (1993)*
General recommendation XVII on the establishment of national
institutions to facilitate the implementation of the Convention

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,

Considering the practice of States parties concerning the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,

Convinced of the necessity to encourage further the establishment of national institutions to facilitate the implementation of the Convention,

Emphasizing the need to strengthen further the implementation of the Convention,

1. Recommends that States parties establish national commissions or other appropriate bodies, taking into account, mutatis mutandis, the principles relating to the status of national institutions annexed to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1992/54 of 3 March 1992, to serve, inter alia, the following purposes:

(a) To promote respect for the enjoyment of human rights without any discrimination, as expressly set out in article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;

(b) To review government policy towards protection against racial discrimination;

(c) To monitor legislative compliance with the provisions of the Convention;

(d) To educate the public about the obligations of States parties under the Convention;

(e) To assist the Government in the preparation of reports submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination;

2. Also recommends that, where such commissions have been established, they should be associated with the preparation of reports and possibly included in government delegations in order to intensify the dialogue between the Committee and the State party concerned.