The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, also known as ICERD, or more commonly, CERD, is an international treaty designed to protect individuals from discrimination based on race, whether that discrimination is intentional, or is the result of seemingly neutral policies. 2008 CERD Shadow Report
CERD Committee Concluding Observations

• West Coast CERD strategy session for organizatoins interested in racial justice. August 21, 2008 CADRE Los Angeles, California download application
  
• Summary of East Coast CERD Strategy Session, Washington, D.C. June 27, 2008
• CERD Shadow Reporting
• Articles, Video & Audio CERD Hearings UN
• CERD Geneva Delegation Photo Album

The mission of the US Human Rights Network is to strengthen and build the domestic human rights movement in the U.S., in order to hold the government accountable under its international legal obligations. The CERD Project is designed to ensure broad and effective coordination among domestic civil society groups in the ICERD treaty reporting process, demonstrate the effectiveness of using an international human rights procedure – specifically the shadow reporting process – to advance domestic advocacy agendas and ensure that the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination receives full and accurate information about the current human rights situation in the United States, as well as the priority concerns of civil society. Furthermore, the project seeks to educate the public as well as a wide range of civil society organizations about the human rights framework, particularly with regard to U.S. obligations to combat racial discrimination and strengthen the domestic human rights movement as a powerful influence on U.S. policy.

When a country ratifies (formally accepts) one of these treaties, it becomes obligated to submit regular, periodic reports on its compliance with the treaty’s obligations. These reports are submitted to a treaty monitoring body – or committee – that has been established for each of these treaties to monitor the compliance of state parties. The U.S. government has ratified three of the treaties: the ICCPR in 1992 and the CAT and the ICERD in 1994. The U.S. is thus obligatedto file periodic compliance reports with the Human Rights Committee under the ICCPR, the Committee Against Torture under the CAT, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination under the ICERD.

• Orientation Guide**
• Agenda February 18 CERD Briefing**
• What is Shadow Reporting?
• 2008 CERD Shadow Report Summary