Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Eighty- third session

12–30 August 2013

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports, comments and information submitted by States parties under article 9 of the Convention

List of themes in relation to the eighteenth and nineteenth periodic reports of Belarus (CERD/C/BLR/18-19)

Note by the Country Rapporteur

Summary

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination decided at its seventy-sixth session (A/65/18, para. 85) that the Country Rapporteur would send to the State party concerned a short list of themes with a view to guiding and focusing the dialogue between the State party’s delegation and the Committee during the consideration of the State party’s report. This document contains a list of such themes. This is not an exhaustive list: other issues may also be raised in the course of the dialogue. No written replies are required.

1.The Convention in domestic law and legislative, institutional and policy framework for its implementation (arts. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7)

(a)Clear indication in the laws of the State party that racial discrimination is prohibited in accordance with article 1 of the Convention;

(b)Clear definition and parameters of defining racism, xenophobia and related hate crimes in national legislation; legal and policy measures for the elimination of racial discrimination;

(c)Cases of direct applicability of the Convention in the legal domestic order;

(d)Comprehensive and disaggregated data on areas covered by the Convention, including statistical data on the reporting and recording of racial discrimination and hate-motivated crimes, including the number of complaints, their nature and the follow-up given to such complaints;

(e)Status of efforts to establish an independent national human rights institution in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights whose mandate would include the monitoring of the situation with regard to racial discrimination and related issues.

2.Application of the Convention to ethnic and other minorities (arts. 2, 5 and 7)

(a)Measures to combat discrimination against persons belonging to ethnic minorities, in particular measures against harassment by police and equal access to education and employment;

(b)Situation of the Jewish community in Belarus, their places of worship and cemeteries;

(c)Situation of the Roma community in Belarus;

(d)Situation of migrants;

(e)Situation with regard to trafficking in human beings;

(f)Efforts to prevent all forms of racial discrimination, including raising awareness among the general public through the use of print, audiovisual media and education;

(g)Training on non-discrimination for relevant professional groups, including judiciary and law-enforcement officials.