Pritchard, Sarah --- "Stirrings: Early Warning/Urgent Action Decision Concerning Australia from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination" [1998] IndigLawB 75; (1998) 4(15) Indigenous Law Bulletin 17

• Early Warning/urgent Action Decision Concerning Australia From The Un Committee On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination

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Early Warning/Urgent Action Decision Concerning Australia from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

by Sarah Pritchard

The Australian Government has recently become the subject of an early warning/urgent action decision by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In an extraordinary move, the Committee adopted a decision on 14 August 1998 (Decision 1(53))[1] requesting the Government of Australia to provide information on `the changes recently projected or introduced to the 1993 Native Title Act, on any changes of policy ... as to Aboriginal land rights, and of the functions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.' The Committee wishes to examine the compatibility of any such changes with Australia's obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The Committee has asked to consider this information in the presence of a representative of the Australian Government at its next session (1-19 March 1999) and to receive the information by 15 January 1998. Discussing the text of the decision, CERD Committee Member Professor Rudiger Wolfram noted that the situation in Australia was clearly deteriorating, and that the request for information was not a 'mere nicety' but `referred to an obligation on the part of Australia to engage in dialogue with the Committee.'[2]

The CERD Committee decided in 1993 to develop early warning and urgent procedures where there is particular cause for concern on the basis of actual or potential circumstances.

Early warning measures are intended to prevent existing problems escalating into conflicts, and include confidence-building measures to identify structures to strengthen racial tolerance and solidify peace. Urgent procedures respond to problems requiring immediate attention to prevent or limit the scale or number of serious violations of CERD. As at the end of 1997, the following States were subject to decisions under early warning and urgent procedures: Algeria, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Burundi, Croatia, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Liberia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Rwanda, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Yugoslavia.

Organisations or individuals wishing to provide information to the Committee should submit it to: The Secretary, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, United Nations Office at Geneva, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

Dr Sarah Pritchard is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales.

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[1] UN Doc CERD/C/53/Misc 17/Rev 2.

[2] UN Doc CERD/C/SR 1287, 14 August 1998, para 33.