Session/Session/Sesión: 54 ^1/ (Summary) 
Date/Date/Fecha: 1-19 March 1999
Venue/Lieu/ Lugar: Geneva

1/ 
At this session the Committee adopted a statement on the human rights situation of the Kurdish people.

2/ 
Overdue report. State examined without report/ 
Rapport qui est trés en retard. Etat examiné sans rapport/ 
Informe muy atrasado. estado examinado sin informe.

3/ 
Prevention procedure. State examined without report/ 
Procedure de prevention. Etat examiné sans rapport/ 
Procedimiento preventivo. Estado examinado sin informe.

4/ 
Prevention procedure. State examined with a special report/ 
Procedure de prevention. Etat examiné avec rapport special/ 
Procedimiento preventivo. Estado examinado con informe especial.

Summary of the highlights of the fifty-fourth session of the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Introduction
 

The Committee held its fifty-fourth session from 1-19 March 1999 and adopted texts concerning 16 States parties to the Convention, and a 17^th text on the human rights of the Kurdish people. Invitations to take part in the proceedings were made by note verbale to all States parties scheduled for consideration by the Committee, and all States parties concerned sent delegations to participate unless otherwise noted below. 

Periodic reports

The Committee considered the periodic reports of ten countries: Austria, Costa Rica, Finland, Italy, Kuwait, Mongolia, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea and the Syrian Arab Republic. The report of Lesotho was scheduled to be considered, but was postponed at the request of the State party.

Prevention, including early warning measures and urgent action procedures

The Committed considered special reports submitted by Australia, the Czech Republic and Yugoslavia (in relation to Kosovo). It also considered the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and the Sudan, although no special reports had been requested. In the case of these latter three State parties, representatives of Rwanda and the Sudan participated in the discussions while in the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo no representative was present. The Committee adopted decisions on all of these States, with the exception of the Czech Republic. The Committee indicated that it would further consider the issues raised in the special report during the examination of the Czech Republic's next periodic report. 

The Committee also adopted a statement on the human rights of the Kurdish people. This latter action was interesting because it was the first time that the Committee had taken action relating to a human rights issue of a transnational character and applicable to several countries, including at least one, Turkey, that is not a party to the Convention. It is, however, to be noted that neither Turkey nor any other country was named in the statement. 

The review procedure

Under this procedure, the Committee considers the situation in a State party in the absence of a report if the State party has not submitted a report for five years or more. The Committee had scheduled four State parties under this procedure: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Congo and Slovenia. Bahrain was removed from this agenda item because it filed a report, and Bangladesh and Slovenia were removed because their request for a postponement, indicating they would be filing a report shortly, was granted. Therefore, Congo was the only country which was examined under this procedure. No representative of the State party was present. 

Other matters

The Committee's fifty-fifth session, scheduled for 2-27 August 1999, will be for four weeks rather than three, in light of the General Assembly's decision in its resolution 53/131 to grant the Committee an extra week of meeting time at its summer sessions, on a provisional basis, in 1999 and 2000. The Committee has scheduled 23 countries to be considered. The list of countries to be considered, and the country rapporteurs designated, are contained in CERD/C/55/Misc.4. This information will also be produced officially when the provisional agenda and annotations is issued. The Committee will also consider communications and other matters including, inter alia, its contribution to preparations for the World Conference against Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.