The 35 States Parties to the International Convention of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination decided unanimously this afternoon that the persons elected to membership in the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would assume office as of today. Under the terms of the Convention, members of the Committee serve a four-year term. However, when the committee holds its first meeting, the Chairman to be elected at that time will choose by lot which nine of the 18 members will serve initially for two years. The Committee is expected to convene for the first time in September.
In compliance with Article 8 of the Convention, representatives deposit their ballots to elect the eighteen members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The 35 States Parties to the International Convention of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination decided unanimously this afternoon that the persons elected to membership in the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would assume office as of today. Under the terms of the Convention, members of the Committee serve a four-year term. However, when the committee holds its first meeting, the Chairman to be elected at that time will choose by lot which nine of the 18 members will serve initially for two years. The Committee is expected to convene for the first time in September.
Seen here presiding over the meeting today is Mr. Marc Schreiber, Director, UN Division of Human Rights. At the left is Mr. Valentin Romanov, Committee Secretary.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination will come into force early next year as a consequence of its ratification or accession by 27 States, following ratification of the Convention today by Poland.
Poland deposited its instrument of ratification today with the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, becoming the twenty-seventh State to have ratified or acceded the Convention.
Seen here during a brief ceremony today, from left to right are: Constantin Stavropoulos, UN Legal Counsel; Bohdan Tomorowicz, Permanent Representative of Poland to the UN; Wladyslaw Neneman, First Secretary, Polish Mission; and Marc Schreiber, Director, UN Division of Human Rights.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (left) of Haïti, addressing the Commission on Human Rights, declares that the Commission must take a stronger stand against Governments that come to power through the force of arms. He said that some of the 20 000 people who had fled last September's putsch in Haïti had been put in camps reminiscent of the slave trade. Forced repatriation, he added, could be considered an act of racial discrimination.