Source: United Nations (UN) |

Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination Discusses Situation in Paraguay, South Africa and Ukraine with Non-Governmental Organizations

Solidarity Trade Union said that South Africa was still grappling with race and said that its report presented an affirmative action system that had gone too far and had become so ensnared in race that redress had gotten lost

South Africa was a constitutional democracy and it was important to create case law, so the non-governmental organization was active in this regard

GENEVA, Switzerland, August 8, 2016/APO/ --

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning heard from civil society representatives about the situation of racial discrimination in Paraguay, South Africa and Ukraine, ahead of the Committee’s review of the reports of these countries this week. 
 
Lebanon will also have its report considered by the Committee this week, but there were no non-governmental organizations present to talk about the situation there.
 
A civil society organization from Paraguay spoke about structural discrimination against indigenous people and communities, underlining that the obstacles to eliminating poverty and social exclusion were rooted in the economic system based on monocultural agriculture, notably soya, and livestock rearing.  Land was therefore concentrated in the hands of latifundistas, leaving indigenous people without proper access to land for their sustenance.  Paraguay was the only country in the region without a proper definition of racial discrimination; the law against all forms of discrimination had been rejected after seven years of discussions in the Parliament, while the legislation on free, prior and informed consent was not yet in place.
 
South Africa was still grappling with race and, with its affirmative action system going too far, it had become so ensnared in race that redress had gotten lost, a non-governmental organization said.  The government ideology of racial representivity and its mathematical approach to race affected all spheres of society, but did not carefully deal with racial classification.  It was not building bridges between the underlying racial tensions but was rather feeding them, and its racial ideology was constructing a future based on race.
 
Non-governmental organizations from Ukraine welcomed the recent changes and the adoption of anti-discrimination laws, and expressed concern about the lack of a mechanism to protect the rights of national minorities.  The problem of xenophobia, hate speech and hate crimes persisted, but authorities continued to regard hate crimes as “hooligan action”.  Grave violations of the rights of ethnic minorities were taking place in the Russia-annexed Crimea and Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics in the east of Ukraine, with the situation of Crimean Tatars being particularly dramatic.  The situation of the Romani population remained difficult, with persistent traditional discrimination against them and widespread stereotypes and biases.
 
Speaking in the discussion were representatives of Tierra Viva from Paraguay, Solidarity Trade Union from South Africa, as well as representatives of three civil society organizations from Ukraine: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Right to Protection and Roma Human Rights Ukraine.
 
Live webcast of country reviews is available at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org.

The Committee will reconvene this afternoon at 3 p.m., to start its consideration of the combined fourth to sixth periodic report of Paraguay (CERD/C/PRY/4-6).
 
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Statement on South Africa
 
Solidarity Trade Union said that South Africa was still grappling with race and said that its report presented an affirmative action system that had gone too far and had become so ensnared in race that redress had gotten lost.  It was a system in which races were permanently institutionalized in various silos.  The non-governmental organization presented two cases to illustrate the point, including the case of Renate Barnard, an employee of the South African Police Service who had been denied promotion for nine years, and who had finally lost in the Constitutional Court on the basis of what in legal terms was known as the Barnard principle which stated that if one group was overrepresented, it would not constitute unfair discrimination if an individual from that group was not promoted.  The government ideology of racial representivity and its mathematical approach to race affected all spheres of society, but it did not carefully deal with racial classification.  It was not building bridges between the underlying racial tensions but was rather feeding them, and its racial ideology was constructing a future based on race.
 
Discussion on South Africa

A Committee Expert asked whether civil society organizations in South Africa were consulted in the drafting of the State party’s report, about the contribution of the non-governmental organization to the ongoing discussion concerning hate speech, about the view on the apartheid system and what had been done to eradicate this system and build a democratic State, and about the proposals on the future of South Africa.
 
Another Expert asked about socio-economic gaps between various groups and whether they had narrowed or widened, and the alternatives to affirmative action in order to achieve equality, particularly in the light of huge gaps between the white minority and black majority.
 
Responding, the representative of Solidarity Trade Union said that it had not been consulted in the drafting of the State party’s report.  South Africa was a constitutional democracy and it was important to create case law, so the non-governmental organization was active in this regard.  There was still a lot of race conflict in South Africa, but also progress was being made in reaching solutions.  Apartheid was a deep system which had led to pain for generations; there was still a long way to go.  A concern was that democracy in South Africa was developing into majority democracy and that the room for minorities was narrowing, including for minorities which suffered under the apartheid.  Huge disparities remained, despite the growing back middle class.  For example, 75 per cent of schools in the country were dysfunctional and most were in previously disadvantaged areas.  South Africa must look into the input-based affirmative action and empower people not only to use the system to force the figures, as the current affirmative action programme was doing.
 
Asked about Special Equality Tribunals, a civil society organization representative said that those had been created by legislation, including by the Labour Law, while the Human Rights Commission was tasked with looking into issues of hate speech and racism, for example.  In order to really get the attention of the ruling party, it was necessary to litigate on those issues.  The Government was firmly committed to special measures, but the fear was that they were going too far and the aim was to find the right balance without creating imbalances.
 
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Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations (UN).