Guide to access the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On this page, you will find guidance to access the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for individual communications in Refugee and Asylum cases.

How to make an individual application alleging a violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination + -

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination monitors the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) thanks to Article 14 of the Convention allowing individuals to submit complaints against States responsible for an alleged violation of their rights. Only States which have filed a declaration under Article 14 can receive individual complaints.

58 States have filed a declaration under Article 14. The list of States can be found here.

Individuals claiming to be a victim of a violation of the ICERD by a State Party. It is therefore the individual (or a group of individuals) or his (their) representative that must file the complaint, with appropriate authorization. This includes complaints filed by the relatives of the victim.

A complaint can also be submitted on behalf of a victim when the victim is unable to submit to complaint himself. The author of the complaint must justify his acting on the victim’s behalf.  

See Article 14(1) of ICERD and Rule 91(b) of the Rules of Procedure.

The Committee can only deal with the rights contained in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It includes a number of rights that must be guaranteed without discrimination, such as :

  • The right to equal treatment before the tribunals (Article 5(a))
  • The right to security of persons and protection by the State against violence (Article 5(b))
  • The right of freedom of movement (Article 5(d)(i))
  • The right to leave any country (Article 5(d)(ii)).
  • The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services (Article 5(e)(iv)).
  • The right to effective protection and remedies (Article 6).

The Convention has no explicit provision on non-refoulement, but the Committee has emphasized in its General Recommendation XXII the obligation of States to ensure that the return of refugees and migrants is voluntary and respect the principle of non-refoulement (§2(b)). It has also linked the respect for Article 5(b) (right to protection against violence or bodily harm) to the principle of non-refoulement (A/59/18 §243).

  • Anonymity and abuse of right

The Committee does not consider anonymous submissions and those that constitute an abuse of right (Article 14(6)(a)) .

  • Exhaustion of domestic remedies

An individual should first seek protection to the national courts. The Committee is considered as a body of last-resort and can therefore only be sought once the complainant has exhausted all available domestic remedies (Article 14(7)(a)). 

The rule on domestic remedies does not apply if the remedies are unreasonable prolonged.  (Article 14(7)(a)). .  

  • 6 month time-limit.

The complaint must be filed within 6 months of the exhaustion of all available domestic remedies, expect in the case of duly verified exceptional circumstances (Article 14(5) ICERD and Rule 91(f) of the Rules of Procedure).

How to request interim measures to be taken to avoid irreparable damage

In addition to individual communications, because of urgency, the Committee can order interim measures in order to avoid “possible irreparable damage to the person or persons claiming to be victim(s)”. This can be requested at any time during the proceedings, before a determination on the merits has been reached.

The ordering of interim measures does not imply a determination on the admissibility or the merits of the case.

Failure to respect these measures will be incompatible with the obligation to respect in good faith the procedure of individual communication.

See Rule 94(3) of the Rules of Procedure.

Important considerations

Complaints must only address matters that have happened after the Declaration issued by the State concerned under Article 14.

An exception to the rule is when the violation started before the Declaration was issued but continued after that date.

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Last updated March 2025