International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 1965
Summary
Core UN human rights convention binding state parties to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms including legislation, policy, and practice. Establishes the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) which reviews state reports and can receive individual complaints (optional declaration). Racial discrimination includes discrimination based on national or ethnic origin.
Relevance to the diaspora
Tamil diaspora organisations submit CERD shadow reports documenting discrimination against Tamils in Sri Lanka; CERD has repeatedly raised concerns about the PTA's discriminatory application against Tamils, slow devolution, and unequal distribution of post-war development resources.
Key provisions
- Art. 1 — definition of racial discrimination (including ethnic origin)
- Art. 2 — state obligation to eliminate racial discrimination
- Art. 5 — equal enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights
- Art. 14 — optional individual complaint mechanism
Primary source
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racialRelated entries
Where this law is used in the archive
No dossier, desk or evidence pack currently relies on this entry. It is indexed and sourced, but not yet load-bearing anywhere in the archive.