A/HRC/31/27
increase in hate speech and xenophobic discourse by politicians, in the media and on other
public platforms, that contribute to prejudice and the stigmatization of ethnic and national
minorities and indigenous peoples, including Sami, non-western European migrants, Roma
and asylum seekers, and recommended that the State party should take appropriate
measures to condemn and distance itself from the said hate speech and xenophobic
discourse.
37.
At its fifty-fourth session, the Committee against Torture adopted its concluding
observations on Romania (CAT/C/ROU/CO/2) and the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia. With regard to Romania, the Committee recommended that the State party
should, inter alia, (a) combat impunity and prevent discriminatory police misconduct by
ensuring that all cases of excessive use of force by law enforcement officials against
members of the Roma community are promptly and effectively investigated and
prosecuted; and (b) stop the targeted practice of “administratively conveying” Roma to
police stations. In the case of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Committee
expressed its concern at information regarding the excessive use of force by police officials
against Roma. It recommended that the State party should, inter alia, combat and prevent
discriminatory police misconduct by ensuring that all alleged cases of excessive use of
force by law enforcement officials against members of Roma community are promptly and
effectively addressed, and that training on human rights provided for law enforcement
officials is improved. At its fifty-fifth session, the Committee adopted its concluding
observations on Iraq (CAT/C/IRQ/CO/1 and Corr.1) and Slovakia (CAT/C/SVK/CO/3).
With regard to Iraq, the Committee expressed concern at the fact that the so-called Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had instituted a pattern of sexual violence, slavery,
abduction and human trafficking targeted at women and girls belonging to religious and
ethnic minorities, and recommended that the State party should take vigorous measures to
promote the protection of women and to eliminate the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators.
In the case of Slovakia, the Committee recommended that the State party investigate all
allegations of involuntary sterilization of Roma women and provide victims with fair and
adequate redress.
38.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child, at its sixty-eighth session, adopted its
concluding observations on Colombia (CRC/C/COL/CO/4-5), Iraq (CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4)
and Turkmenistan (CRC/C/TKM/CO/2-4). With regard to Colombia, the Committee
recommended that the State party, inter alia, increase its efforts and take affirmative
measures to ensure that indigenous and Afro-Colombian children enjoy their rights in
practice, in particular in the areas of health, education and access to justice. In the case of
Iraq, the Committee expressed its deepest concern at the situation of children and families
belonging to minority groups, who are systematically killed, tortured, raped, forced to
convert to Islam and cut off from humanitarian assistance by the so-called Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a reported attempt by its members to suppress, permanently
cleanse or expel, or in some instances destroy, these minority communities. The Committee
urged the State party to, inter alia, take immediate measures and to provide all necessary
protection to children belonging to minority groups. With regard to Turkmenistan, the
Committee expressed its concern at, inter alia, the discriminatory practices towards children
belonging to national minorities, particularly Kazakh and Uzbek children, who had limited
access to language classes in their mother tongue. It recommended that the State party
should guarantee for children belonging to national minorities the right to education in their
mother tongue, and abolish restrictions in that regard.
39.
The Committee, at its sixty-ninth session, adopted its concluding observations on
Eritrea (CRC/C/ERI/CO/4) and Mexico (CRC/C/MEX/CO/4-5). With regard to Eritrea, the
Committee expressed its concern at allegations that the traditional means of livelihood of
some ethnic minority groups, including the Afar and the Kunama, were being destroyed,
and that they were being displaced from their traditional territory. It urged the State party to
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