Background Information

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was opened for signature by the UN General Assembly on December 21, 1965. It entered into force on January 4, 1969. As of December 10, 2010, it had been ratified by 174 countries.

Canada submitted its first report in September 1971, and has since submitted 20 reports. Canada's combined Seventeenth and Eighteenth Reports were submitted on February 3, 2006, and reviewed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in February 2007. Canada's submitted its Nineteenth and Twentieth Reports on January 27, 2011.