UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding observations on the combined twentieth to twenty-second periodic reports of Belgium, adopted on 29 April 2021, CERD/C/BEL/CO/20-22

Country

Belgium

Title

UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding observations on the combined twentieth to twenty-second periodic reports of Belgium, adopted on 29 April 2021, CERD/C/BEL/CO/20-22

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Year

2021

Type of publication

Report

Geographical coverage

national

Area/location of interest

Not applicable - national level

Type of Institution

UN body

Institution

United Nations | Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Main Thematic Focus

Racism & xenophobia

Target Population

Ethnic minorities Migrants Muslims

Key findings

Regarding the Muslim community, the Committee expressed concern about the lack of disaggregated data on racist hate crimes and hate speech, which would allow to identify specific cases of ethno-religious hatred, such as, among others, Islamophobia. The Committee was also concerned that the largest proportion of racist hate crimes in the State party are ethno-religious in nature. The Committee further expressed concern about the increasing reports of racist hate speech, including antisemitic and Islamophobic speech, and the increasingly aggressive language on the Internet and social networks, including against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Methodology (Qualitative/Quantitative and exact type used, questionnaires etc)

States parties submit regular reports to the Committee on the legislative, judicial, administrative or other measures they have adopted. Furthermore, civil society actors can submit “alternative” reports that serve to primarily help Committee members gain a more comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in a given country. Committee members are brief by civil society actors, before engaging in a constructive dialogue with the State party. The Concluding Observations are the result of the review process.

Sample details and representativeness

Concluding observations are analyses based on a great deal of information gathered mainly from UN mechanisms, the State itself and civil society organisations.

DISCLAIMERThe information presented here is collected under contract by the FRA's research network FRANET. The information and views contained do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA.