GENEVA (5 Aug 2022) - The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will hold its upcoming session from 8 to 30 August, during which it will review Benin, Nicaragua, the United States of America, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Zimbabwe and Suriname. The seven countries are among the 182 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. They are required to undergo regular reviews by the Committee of 18 independent international experts on how they are implementing the Convention. The Committee, which has received respective country reports and other submissions from non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions, will discuss and address a range of issues with the seven State delegations through public dialogues on the following dates at Geneva time: Benin 9 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 10 Aug 10:00 – 13:00 Nicaragua 10 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 11 Aug 10:00 – 13:00 United States of America 11 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 12 Aug 10:00 – 13:00 Azerbaijan 15 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 16 Aug 10:00 – 13:00 Slovakia 16 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 17 Aug 10:00 – 13:00 Zimbabwe 17 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 18 Aug 10:00 – 13:00 Suriname 18 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 19 Aug 15:00 – 18:00 The U.S. dialogue will take place at Palais des Nations in Room XIX while the other six dialogues will be held in the Ground Floor Conference Hall of Palais Wilson in Geneva. All public dialogues will be livecast on media accreditation. The Committee will hold a press conference on 30 August to present its findings. Further details will be announced in due course. For more information and media requests in Geneva, please contact: Vivian Kwok at +41 (0) 22 917 9362 / vivian.kwok@un.org or UN Human Rights Office Media Section at +41 (0) 22 928 9855 / ohchr-media@un.org Background The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination monitors States parties’ adherence to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which, to date has 182 States parties. The Committee is made up of 18 members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. Learn more with our animations on the Treaty Bodies system and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination! Follow the UN Treaty Bodies on social media!