Professor Verene Shepherd appointed head of UN’s racial discrimination committee
Gavin Riley / Our Today
administrator
Jamaican academic, social historian and reparations advocate Professor Verene Shepherd is the new chair of the United Nations’ (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Shepherd, becoming the first Jamaican and first Caribbean national to lead the oldest treaty body of the global organisation, assumed her chairmanship on Monday (April 11).
Shepherd’s tenure will run for the next two years.
The Centre for Reparation Research (CRR) extended congratulations to Shepherd, who remains a director of the University of the West Indies-based (The UWI) centre.
In a statement today, the CRR noted that Shepherd’s candidature enjoyed the support of CARICOM member states.
“Professor Shepherd (whose candidacy was supported by CARICOM) is the first CARICOM citizen and first Jamaican to be a member of CERD and to serve as chair,” the CRR disclosed.
Shepherd was also a member of the CERD since 2016, winning the highest number of votes among those who competed for a seat on the committee twice in a row.
For her part, in a brief Twitter statement after the confirmation of her historic appointment, Shepherd said she was honoured to chair the committee.
Professor Shepherd succeeds outgoing CERD chairman Turkey’s Gün Kut, whose term expired this year.
CERD meets in Geneva and normally holds two sessions annually consisting of three weeks each. The committee also publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as general recommendations (or general comments), on thematic issues and organises thematic discussions.
Comments