On 21 December 1965, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, by resolution 2106 (XX), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and opened it for signature and ratification. The Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic (Article 25). Depositary: the Secretary-General. Article 17: open to Members of the United Nations, members of the specialized agencies, parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and any other State invited by the Assembly. Article 19(1): it enters into force on the thirtieth day after deposit of the twenty-seventh instrument of ratification or accession. Entry into force: 4 January 1969.

Article 1 defines racial discrimination as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights in public life. It shall not apply to distinctions between citizens and non-citizens; it shall not affect legal provisions concerning nationality, citizenship or naturalization, provided they do not discriminate against any particular nationality. Special measures for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement, finite and without permanent separate rights, shall not be deemed racial discrimination. Article 2: a policy without delay of elimination. Article 3: condemnation of segregation and apartheid.

Article 4, with due regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to Article 5, requires Parties to eradicate incitement by propaganda and organizations based on ideas of racial superiority or which promote racial hatred; dissemination of such ideas, incitement and violence, and participation in prohibited organizations, shall be offences punishable by law. This is not an enforcement handbook. Article 5: equality before the law, including courts, security of person, political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, and access to any place or service intended for use by the general public. Article 6: effective protection and remedies, including just and adequate reparation or satisfaction.

Article 8 establishes the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: eighteen experts of high moral standing and acknowledged impartiality, serving in their personal capacity, elected for four-year terms, with regard to equitable geographical distribution. Article 9: reports by Parties within one year after entry into force for the State concerned, and thereafter periodically, for consideration by the Committee. Article 11: inter-State communications. Article 14: a Party may declare that it recognizes the Committee’s competence to receive communications from individuals or groups of individuals within its jurisdiction; the Committee may exercise that competence only when at least ten Parties are bound by such declarations. Anonymous communications shall not be received. This is not a handbook of how to file complaints.

Article 20: a reservation incompatible with the object and purpose, or one which would inhibit the operation of any of the bodies established by the Convention, shall not be permitted; a reservation shall be considered incompatible or inhibitive if at least two thirds of the States Parties object to it. Article 21: denunciation takes effect one year after receipt. Article 22: a dispute not settled by negotiation or by the procedures of the Convention shall, at the request of any of the parties to the dispute, be referred to the International Court of Justice, unless the disputants agree to another mode of settlement.

The list of Parties is not set out here. The adopting resolution is not reproduced in full.

The United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York, the place of adoption, not a signing room. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

For context: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The text: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.