GENEVA (5 Aug 2022) - The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will hold its upcoming session from 8 to 30 August, during which it will review Benin, Nicaragua, the United States of America, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Zimbabwe and Suriname.

The seven countries are among the 182 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. They are required to undergo regular reviews by the Committee of 18 independent international experts on how they are implementing the Convention.

The Committee, which has received respective country reports and other submissions from non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions, will discuss and address a range of issues with the seven State delegations through public dialogues on the following dates at Geneva time:

Benin
9 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
10 Aug 10:00 – 13:00

Nicaragua
10 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
11 Aug 10:00 – 13:00

United States of America
11 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
12 Aug 10:00 – 13:00

Azerbaijan
15 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
16 Aug 10:00 – 13:00

Slovakia
16 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
17 Aug 10:00 – 13:00

Zimbabwe
17 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
18 Aug 10:00 – 13:00

Suriname
18 Aug 15:00 – 18:00
19 Aug 15:00 – 18:00

The U.S. dialogue will take place at Palais des Nations in Room XIX while the other six dialogues will be held in the Ground Floor Conference Hall of Palais Wilson in Geneva. All public dialogues will be livecast on media accreditation.

The Committee will hold a press conference on 30 August to present its findings. Further details will be announced in due course.