The UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (the Committee) will convene its 96th session next week to review anti-discriminatory practices in China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, Latvia, Japan, Mauritius and Montenegro. The delegates from state under review will present report detailing their efforts to eliminate discrimination and implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (the Convention) in the respective states.
In light of the impending review, China has submitted a 31-page report to the Committee. The self-praised submission detailed “progress made by China” in the implementation of the Convention from 2008 to 2015. The report was prepared “with the direct participation of persons from ethnic minorities,” it claimed.
In addition to China’s report, the Committee has received around twenty submissions from civil society organisations that monitor human rights situation in China. Majority of the organisations’ submission reflect the extent of discriminatory policies and practices of the authorities in regions under PRC.
The Tibet Bureau, Geneva in coordination with UN & Human Rights desk of Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) presented an outline of state designed discrimination facing Tibetan people under the Chinese policies in Tibet. The report highlights several issues of human rights violations including state-led destruction of major Tibetan Buddhist institutions, targeting Tibetan language advocates, the prevalence of unequal opportunities in job market, restriction on movement, and discrimination against Tibetans in issuing passports.
In addition to the cases raised with the Committee, recent reports from Tibet recount that Chinese authorities in Karze (Ch: Ganzi) prefecture have denied issuing motorbike license to Tibetan nomads. Tibetan nomads in Serthar county, Karze, incorporated into China’s Sichuan province, have been turned down repeatedly with the authorities rejecting their applications “using flimsiest excuses” such as “computers are down” and requirements not met, reported Radio Free Asia.
China has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination December 29, 1981 with reservations to Article 22. As per Article 9 of the Convention, the member states are obligated to submit report “every two years and whenever the Committee so requests”. Since 1983, China has submitted six reports to the committee.
China was reviewed last by the Committee in 2009 during which the Committee expressed concerns over reports of “disproportionate use of force for against ethnic Tibetans and Uyghurs and the important number of detentions.”
Report filed by UN & Human Rights Desk, DIIR